Without
by SpaghettiWarlord
Summary: Wow! Everything's so amazing! We're being forced to live on a mountain, random humans are attacking us, all of our friends are dying, and a child's having an identity crisis! Could it get worse? Oh! The angsty backstories are coming for a visit. Enjoy your stay. (( SUSPENDED FOR NOW, SORRY! ))
1. True Pacifist

I do not own Undertale! Undertale and all of its characters and settings belong to Toby Fox, as well as the True Pacifist plot line, the Genocide plot line, and all of the Neutral plot lines.

* * *

A young human child sat on an old blue blanket on a patch of grass over looking the sparkling city beneath the mountain they were on, watching in barely contained amusement as their monster friends Papyrus, an ambitious and good-hearted skeleton, and Undyne, a fierce but well-meaning aquatic monster, attempted to put up a tent, something they had clearly never done before. After all, camping was a rare hobby back in the Underground, the prison underneath the mountain that the monsters had been trapped under until a week or so ago.

Sans, Papyrus's older skeletal brother, was supposed to be helping them, but he was currently sitting beside the human, Frisk, drinking ketchup from a plastic bottle.

Frisk held a hand painted mug filled to the brim with their favourite golden-flower tea in their hands, sipping from the well-loved mug as they observed their excitable friends's progress. The duo weren't particularly successful, but at least they were having fun. For the most part, anyways.

"UNDYNE! IT IS COLLAPSING AGAIN!" cried Papyrus in dismay as the dilapidated dark green tent sagged depressingly. He frantically propped it up with his long, bony arms, and his red scarf fluttered in the small gust caused by the tent's crumpling.

Sans snickered.

Frisk shot him a pointed look, along with their elbow in his ribcage, and asked why he didn't get off his boney butt and help the two like their adoptive mother and the queen of monsters, Toriel, had told him to. They'd already be done if he lent his 'magic telekinetic' abilities!

"Kinda hypocritical, kiddo. I don't see you out there. And, 'sides, would you really want me to? You see, if I helped them, we wouldn't be able to watch this beautiful chaos anymore." He paused. "And, uh, not only that, but I'd have to get up. No, it's better this way," he explained, his voice painfully imitating the dramatic resignation of a soap opera. The impromptu performance was topped off with a deep sigh and an exaggerated flop backwards onto the blanket.

Frisk poked him and gave a stern look. Seriously, he could at least tell them what to do. Papyrus and Undyne were cool and two of Frisk's best friends, but tent building was not their strong suit. In the least.

Sans nodded with a wide smirk. "Reasonable." He proceeded to push himself upright with a groan, then summoned one of his magic skull cannons, a Gaster-blaster, and sent it drifting towards Papyrus. "I will give them the instruction manual." Sans conducted the floating skull with a lazily waving finger, watching the little blaster as it picked up the long forgotten instruction manual from a patch of dirt over to his brother and Undyne.

Undyne took one look at the floppy book and threw it away over her shoulder, where it tumbled down the mountain's slopes to its demise. "I don't need a stupid book to show me how to put a tent up! We're making great progress, right, Papy?"

"OF COURSE, UNDYNE! WE HAVE NO NEED OF A BOOK!" Papyrus nodded enthusiastically, all the while trying to jam a long pole into the window mesh.

Sans shrugged, the white eye lights in his shadowed eye sockets brightening slightly, accompanied with the expression of someone who'd just thought of a really bad pun. "Absolutely, bro. You two're really gettin' into the _spear-it_ of this whole tent building thing," he said, waving his hand towards the four glowing blue spears that Undyne had conjured with her magic to prop the sagging roof up.

"WHY, OF COURSE, SANS! TENT BUILDING COMES NATURALLY TO... OH NO," Papyrus said, a horrified expression forming on his face as the pun sunk in. "SAAANS! WHY MUST YOU MAKE SO MANY PUNS?"

"Sorry, bro, can't help it. Puns are just..."

"NO!"

"... _in my bones_!"

Frisk smothered their giggle with a bizarre amalgamation of a choke and a cough, not wanting to set Papyrus off on one of his "NO, DON'T ENCOURAGE HIM, HUMAN" rants that Frisk was able to pretty much quote after two weeks of knowing the brothers.

"UGH! YOU ARE UNBELIEVABLE," Papyrus groaned, sliding one of his red-gloved hands down the middle of his skull in something probably between disappointment and annoyance at the puns, though Frisk knew he didn't dislike them as much as he claimed.

"No, I'm Sans."

"AUGHHHHH!"

Frisk couldn't help a peal of laughter from escaping as Papyrus stomped away in exasperation, and was set off again as Sans winked exaggeratedly at them just as they stopped. In between giggles, they informed him that he had a real funny bone.

"NYEH!" yelped Papyrus from down the mountain.

Now both Frisk and Sans were cracking up, though from the puns or Papyrus's reaction, the human child wasn't sure. They hollered an apology down to Papyrus.

"I FORGIVE YOU, HUMAN, I KNOW IT'S ALL SANS'S INFLUENCE ANYWAYS!"

"Do ya forgive me, bro?" Sans asked, chuckling.

"NO!"

A pause.

"WELL, YES, OF COURSE I FORGIVE YOU, SANS."

"Thanks, bro. Love ya," smirked the shorter skeleton.

"NYEH! I LOVE YOU TOO, BROTHER."

"Enough chit-chat, nerds! Papyrus, we gotta get this tent up before Lady Toriel gets back from helping that Astigmatism family," said Undyne urgently, waving a hammer above her head as she caught the others's attention.

Frisk grinned as the tent-building antics recommenced with a cheer from Papyrus, and looked back towards Sans. Their smile drooped as they saw Sans's far of expression, like he was in a different world. Of, perhaps, a different time. They said his name quietly.

"'Sup, kiddo?" Sans answered belatedly. His eye lights refocussed as Frisk frowned.

The child cocked their head, trying to read Sans's expression. For a moment, they thought they could see some trace of... well, something, anyways, but the second Sans noticed their prying eyes, his features closed off like a slammed door. They weren't going to see anything except for a set of phalanges that tightened a bit more around the ketchup bottle and shoulders that tensed slightly under Frisk's gaze.

"Kiddo?"

Re-summoning the Magic Textbox of Non Verbal Communication (TM), Frisk asked if Sans was ok on the Surface. They didn't want him to feel, well, like he had in the Underground. Like things weren't going to get better.

"Hmm? Yeah, 'course I'm ok. I mean, we're free, right? And Paps is happy," he said, taking another sip of condiment.

Was he sure? Frisk told him that he didn't have anything to worry about. They'd get the monsters settled, and... Sans knew that they weren't going to Reset the timeline back to when they'd first fallen into the Underground, right? Was he worried about that? Oh, no, Sans, they'd promised, they weren't ever going to put him through that again!

The skeleton sighed heavily, running a bony hand over his skull as he closed his sockets. "Am I that easy to read, kiddo?"

Haha, uh, no. Most of time, his pokerface was a good as theirs! Frisk had just been noticing that he seemed a lot more tense now that the monsters were on the Surface, especially that the humans were taking so long to make up their minds on whether or not the monsters could move into the city.

"You're pretty observant, kid. But, oh, y'know. Sometimes..." he started. "Eh. I dunno. Doesn't matter."

No, what? They wanted to know what he thought! Frisk poked him as encouragement.

"C'mon, Frisk, let's just, y'know, enjoy this spectacle," he said, waving towards Undyne suplexing the tent. It was a grand sight indeed, but Frisk couldn't let themself enjoy it. If one of their friends weren't happy on the Surface, it was their job to fix that.

And Sans... Well, Frisk knew all of this hadn't been easy for him. After all, it had been three full Resets and who knows how many Saves before they had even realized that Sans was aware of their actions, and by then they were too focussed on their little game to care. Frisk still felt bad- really, really bad- about the timeline before this one. They were just... curious. Curious to see what would change if they started killing their friends.

If it weren't for Sans's battle, they never would've given up and Reset to make the happy ending they had now. It had taken... 12. 12 loops of the timeline before Frisk had finally got it right.

A whoop of success came from Papyrus as Undyne managed to (finally) get the tent upright. Frisk smiled, leaning against Sans as Papyrus hastily nailed down the tent and stood back to admire the rumpled fabric pyramid. Everything was ok. Even if Sans was still wary of them, they would show him that no matter what, they weren't going to Reset anymore. The other humans may be taking longer than Frisk would've liked to decide if the monsters could move into the city or not, but all would turn out in the end. It had to.

Frisk had a real family now, and they were Determined to keep it.


	2. Math and Mothering

"My child, it is almost bed time," called Toriel to Frisk, who was sitting outside the tent. The motherly goat monster smiled fondly at the child who had set them free, their mousy brown hair tousled from today's playtime and their favourite striped shirt adorned with leaves. "You may have a small snack if you wish, we have leftover pie, snail stew, and some crabapples."

Frisk didn't seem to hear her. Toriel tried again. "Frisk, please come in now!" No response. Toriel huffed, exasperated, then slid out of the tent to walk over to her adopted child. "My child? Are you all right?" She stooped down to Frisk's level, kneeling on the slightly damp grass.

Frisk saw Toriel, then jerked in surprise. Toriel assumed they had been deep in thought.

"My child, I was calling for you to come in! Are you feeling alright?" Toriel lifted a white, furry hand to Frisk's forehead, feeling for a fever. Finding nothing, she withdrew the hand, instead resting it on Frisk's small shoulder.

"I know you must be very anxious to hear back from the humans. But even if they only let us live here, on the mountain, know you will always have a home with me."

Frisk's smile broadened, but their brown eyes didn't match in the slightest. Toriel wished, certainly not for the first time, that she could read minds. Frisk was clearly burdened by the stress of their new status as ambassador, and with the humans continuing to stubbornly ignore their requests to integrate into the city... it was a lot to handle, especially for a nine year old child.

Toriel wondered why she had even let Frisk take on this responsibility. It had seemed like it would only be a cute little role play at the time the position had been offered to them...

"My child, let us go in now. It is nearly dark out," said Toriel, pulling the child to their feet. Toriel embraced Frisk, hoping that her warm white fur and soft purple dress could be a welcome blanket between Frisk and the hard, cruel world, if only for a moment. The two walked in together, neither of them noticing the group of humans watching from the trees.

* * *

"HUMAN! SANS HAS DISAPPEARED AGAIN! RIGHT AFTER I TOLD HIM HE HAD TO HELP THE WHIMSUM FAMILY PUT UP THEIR TENT!" a distraught Papyrus said. Or, if Frisk was being honest, shouted. "WHY DOES HE INSIST ON BEING SO LAZY?"

Frisk advised him to look around in the nearby forest as Sans liked watching the passing clouds, and he probably felt overwhelmed with the bustle of the monsters on Mt. Ebott. The child neglected to tell Papyrus how they had gotten that information, namely by observing his brother carefully throughout multiple timelines.

"OH, THANK YOU, HUMAN FRISK! WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN ME ON MY SEARCH?"

Frisk declined, pointing towards the stack of books beside them on their spot on the grass. They explained that they had work to do as Toriel had insisted on schooling them in the basics they, frankly, should've learned a while ago.

Papyrus smiled wider than should've be possible for a skeleton, even one literally made of magic. "OK! FEEL FREE TO COME FIND ME LATER IF YOU WANT TO HELP OUT! NYEHEHEHEHE!"

Frisk giggled as the tall skeleton bounded off. They always loved meeting Papyrus in Snowdin as he was so funny and so enthusiastic when making his revolting spaghetti. Frisk had it fondly dubbed 'Noodles of Tar'.

Sometimes they could still taste that cursed dish... indescribable. A shiver went down their spine.

Shaking free bad memories and a phantom taste on their tongue, Frisk flipped open their math booklet, squinting at the rows of numbers. What were they supposed to do when it said, 'multiply by'? And what in the world was a 'dividend'? They'd only been doing this for a minute, and were already stumped! Math was sooooooo confusing... Alphys would know this stuff. Yes. Yes, that was it, Alphys could help!

Frisk whipped out their phone, the same one Toriel had given to them back in the Ruins, punching in Alphys's number (she'd finally given it to them). When the monster picked up, Frisk quickly asked her one of the questions on the page, hoping Alphys wouldn't think twice about the question. She loved being quizzed, after all.

The odds weren't in Frisk's favour. "W-why do you ask, Frisk? You aren't t-trying to get out of h-homework, are you?" asked Alphys, suspicion lacing her soft voice that seemed to always sound worried.

Frisk bit their lip, thinking hard as they hurriedly denied Alphys's accusations. A sly grin slit across their face as they changed their voice to 'sweet, curious little kid' mode. They weren't trying to get out of homework, they wanted to see if Alphys actually knew that math stuff. It was pretty hard, after all...

Alphys gasped. 'F-Frisk! I was the Royal Scientist! O-of course I know that easy math!"

Frisk demanded that she prove it.

"Uh, ok... let's do it! G-Give me some equations."

Not five minutes later, Frisk's booklet was complete. A chime rang through the air, though only Frisk could hear it. YOU WON! You earned 0 Xp and 0 gold. The glowing words hovered in front of Frisk's face until they waved them away. Mission accomplished. Thanking Alphys for her time they hung up, smiling widely, if not a bit mischievously, with triumph.

The giddy mood was carried throughout the rest of Frisk's day, the human child happily playing with Monster Kid and his friends until Toriel came to take Frisk back for dinner. "Did you finish your math work, my child?"

Frisk nodded brightly, hiding a victorious smirk. When they finished their meal of 'Snailghetti', as the concoction had been crowned, the child wandered out of the tent, hoping to drop in at the skeleton brother's. When they got to the neon yellow tent, (Frisk's eyes burned! They burned!) they found the older, shorter brother lying on a familiar green couch, the only thing in the large tent save for a portable stove and crates of spaghetti making ingredients, probably from Snowdin. How did all this fit in there, anyway?

"Heya, kiddo. Nice of you to _pop in_ ," Sans said, his low voice emphasizing the last two words.

Now that was a pun. What was it ab- BANG!

Frisk looked down. A popped blue balloon with 'THE GREAT PAPYRUS' written on it with red marker lay dead at their feet, a last little bit of air causing one of the ripped corners to emit a sad whizzing sound. Frisk's hands leaped to their mouth. They were so sorry! They hadn't meant to do that! Would Papyrus be mad about the balloon? They continued to freak out before Sans cut their worry short.

"Frisk. Really. That's _balloon-ey_. Paps wouldn't get _blown up_ over such a small thing. Chill out."

Frisk sighed, and explained that they were just a bit wound up lately. Even little things seemed like crises! They rubbed their cheek, then remembered something they were going to tell Sans. They completed that thought by telling Sans that Papyrus was still looking for him somewhere on the mountain.

Sans looked like he was about to reply, but just then his phone rang. "Uh, one sec, kid," he excused, pulling it out of his pocket. "Hey, Tori, what's up?"

Frisk rubbed their sleeve absentmindedly, waiting for Sans to finish up. It was, after all, kind of rude to take a call in the middle of a conversation.

" **W** **hat?** "

Their eyes shot back to Sans, and saw that his eye sockets had gone dark. That wasn't a good sign. They asked frantically what was happening.

"Nothing you need to worry about. Tori's coming to get you soon."

Sans, be serious. He could trust them! What was going on?

Sans exhaled, his eyes sliding closed as he put his phone back in the pocket of his black and white basketball shorts. "There's a group of some... very aggressive humans fighting some monsters lower down on the mountain."

They gasped in horror.

Sans continued, and the only thing giving away his fear were his barely visible eye lights. "So, you're gonna hangout with Tori until this blows over..." He paused and took another deep breath.

"And I'm gonna find Paps."


	3. Deja Vu

It was dark. The trees, so unlike the ones in Snowdin, seemed to be reaching out to the sky like arms reaching for freedom, casting intersecting shadows in the pale moonlight that allowed for just enough light to navigate by.

Well, that was to be expected at 1 am. It was dark, it was late, and it was a pretty damn inconvenient time for a one-man search party, and he was _sans_ a flashlight to add to it all. Wow, that one was bad.

Sans shook his head, gritted his teeth, and moved onwards. There was no time to waste on stupid puns when his brother was missing and multiple violent humans were on the assault! The worst part was, Sans knew he couldn't trust Papyrus to fight back. Throughout every loop, Papyrus had never been able to find the intent to kill Frisk. He chose to believe in everyone, and it would get him kil- hurt. Hurt.

Sans wouldn't let that happen. It was enough that his brother had experienced first hand how unwelcoming humans could be, what with them making the monsters live on the mountain while they 'discussed' accommodations (though it was pretty obvious what their answer would be in regards to living in the city itself). Papyrus was better than him, he actively decided to find the good in everyone, and that was what made him a good person. Good people didn't deserve to be attacked.

A faraway cry split the air. _There!_ Sans gasped for air as he hurriedly blundered through the dense forest, trying to make out the faint sounds of chanting... and screams. He couldn't afford to use a shortcut; magic conservation was vital. He'd learned that in the Hall.

 _If those dirty humans did ANYTHING to him I swear,_ he fumed in his mind. Sans stepped into the mountain's lower campsite, where some of the monsters were momentarily living in tents awaiting their monarchy's instruction. Well, were until five, no, six knife wielding humans decided to attack them for no reason other than spite. At least they didn't have guns. Sans felt his eye start to burn with Karma. With a bit of mental effort, he doused it. He would need to save energy for a fight if there was going to be one. Where was Papyrus?

As Sans looked around the clearing dotted with tents, he was horrified to see multiple piles of dust and with a sickening lurch in his Soul, noted what the humans were doing- forcing the monsters into two large trucks, and dusting the ones who resisted. It was the Great War on a much smaller scale, but to see it himself was too much for Sans to hold back his magic. He had grown on cautionary tales of the Great War, how the humans had slowly forced back the monsters until Under was the only place they _could_ go.

His eye flared with blue flames. He felt the violet poison that was Karma begin to form in dark purple smoke around him, cloaking him in deadly Retribution. If any of these murderers came into contact with his magic, they would be burned with the memory of their actions. It took years of practise with his mentor to achieve this form of power.

He was now glad for the hours of pain and toil that had allowed him to do _this_. Two Gaster-blaster cannons formed beside the enraged skeleton, aiming their gigantic maws at not the truck, but the human guarding it. He could hear what they were chanting even over the commotion.

"Filthy monsters! Go back where you came from and leave us alone, or we'll turn you back into the dust you're worth! Get in the truck, you're going back under that mountain where you belong! Never should've shown your faces!"

Sans felt a familiar chill seep into his bones. He had felt it every time he had fought Frisk, had felt it every time he fought Flowey, had felt it the one time he'd fought his own teacher. It was the numbness of battle, the resolution to either see your opponent dead, or die knowing you'd changed something.

He hated it. He hated it so, so much. But it had its uses. It separated one from the world of emotion, letting only thought and fact through.

The cannons fired. A fried human fell to the ground. Sans's LOVE increased.

Then a familiar voice reached Sans. "STOP! STOP IT! GET AWAY FROM HER!"

Was that...? Sans spun around. A while away, his younger, taller brother was facing off a human, who was holding a long blade to Shyren's body. Papyrus had the human trapped in a ring of blue bones, refusing to to actually hurt them unless absolutely necessary. Sans wished he had the same ideals. Well, no. If he did, he'd have been dead a hundred times already.

"PLEASE STOP! I BELIEVE IN YOU! YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN THIS, EVEN IF YOU DON'T THINK SO. I PROMISE!"

Those words. Those words were all too familiar to Sans, spoken in almost the same context but with a different genocidal human. Why were there so many of those? The human paused. Sans heard a shrill scream and turned back to flick a human away from the librarbian with blue magic. Could he do the same with Papyrus's human? He tried. Nothing happened. Papyrus must have the human under his own blue magic. Said human dropped Shyren.

Did Papyrus actually do it? Actually change the human's mind?

No time to find out. Two humans had noticed Sans, who was one of the most dangerous monsters in the clearing. The power of a mere six humans had been enough to cause this destruction. He and Papyrus were the only monster currently available who could stop this madness- it was almost the Last Corridor once again.

He engaged the two in battle by bringing out their SOULS. Good. They'd only be able to fight him until someone won the battle, or ran away. Sans went first. He decided it would be better stick to the good ol' script.

"It's a beautiful night outside. Birds are resting, flowers are growing... on nights like these, humans like you..." He summoned a row of bones under their feet, making them jump out of the way as the bones jutted up, right into the next sequence of attack. More bones. Gaster blasters. Bones. Sans knew this pattern like the back of his hand, but the two humans didn't. One lost almost half their HP in the first attack. " **Should be burning in Hell** ," he finished.

The humans attacked with their predictable patterns. Sans dodged leisurely, much to their infuriation. The battle continued like this, so similar to the Judgement Hall battle that Sans felt deja vu on every move. One of them even had a stolen cinnamon bun that they used to heal with. Seconds became minutes as the battle raged on, the moon half hidden behind a cloud as though it too wanted to avoid conflict, leaving only Sans' still burning eye to illuminate the duel.

Ten of Sans' turns in and the humans were barely hanging onto life. Sans heard the sound of another battle commence from behind him. Papyrus?

Sans activated his 'special attack' to check on his brother.

The human Papyrus had spared was back. Papyrus was still using his lines, trying to make them stop, but Sans saw the determined glint in the human's eyes. They would not surrender and Papyrus wouldn't stop believing.

"PLEASE STOP! DO NOT WORRY, WE WILL NOT HURT YOU IF YOU LAY DOWN YOUR WEAPON AND... RETURN MY FRIENDS! EVERYONE CAN BE A GOOD PERSON, IF THEY JUST TRY!"

The human walked closer. Sans realized with a flash of guilt that the human must've approached to help the others fight off Sans.

"...AH, YOU ARE APPROACHING! I SEE MY ARGUMENTS ARE CHANGING YOUR MIND!"

Closer.

"UH, I, PAPYRUS, WELCOME YOU BACK TO THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW WITH OPEN ARMS!"

Why was his brother using those lines? Those words, no matter what order, would always signify something unforgivable to him. Sans cut short his own battle, and the two humans immediately attempted to follow him with enraged shouts as they tripped over the debris from earlier attacks and the small branches littering the clearing grass.

I _have to get there in time have to have to I will save him- I WILL NOT LET HIM DIE AGAIN!_ Sans desperately thought. Humanity had taken almost so much from the monsters. Not Papyrus too.

The human strode towards Papyrus, knife glinting in the moonlight. Papyrus shrank in on himself, cringing. The human attacked, swinging down towards Papyrus, whose skull contorted with sudden terror, the blade hurtling towards his chest-

And Sans was there. He used his waning Karma in a desperate teleport directly in front of the knife. Blue magic took control of the two humans pursuing him, sending them flying down the mountain.

The knife made contact, biting through cloth and bone with little more resistance than scissors through paper.

Sans winced, biting back the fierce, intense pain exploding from the hit, one thought present in his mind. _I did it. I didn't fail him this time. Papyrus isn't dead!_

Sans, on the other hand, was doomed to repeat history once again and become nothing more than a stained jacket and another grey pile on the ground. The thought didn't scare him, as it probably should of. Why be scared, when he had just saved the centre of his life from certain dusting? If anything he felt elated, though in pain. He hadn't failed. He hadn't failed.

Papyrus clearly did not have the same thought train. He spoke quietly, "S-SANS?"

"Hey, bro," Sans said lamely, trying to stay upright. There was still that human, the one with the knife... Oh. Sans watched his finger crumble into dust. Maybe he should sit down- NO! He couldn't give up now. He had to finish. Had to keep Papyrus safe. If that was all he could do in this loop... so be it.

Sans concentrated as his eye lit up with the last trace of his power. Bones impaled the human from both sides. A SOUL shattered.

"BROTHER! TALK TO ME! SANS! SANS?"

Sans grinned weakly, kneecaps thumping against the cool grass, no longer able to stand. "Paps, you g-gotta get out of here. There are still some humans left, and, ugh! They're gonna go for you," he warned, fighting to speak against the darkness that was beginning to close in and the red liquid spilling from between his teeth. "Please, g-go." He struggled to see past the spots clouding his vision as he battled his rapidly fading strength to stay conscious.

He could see the aforementioned humans running towards the brothers. Did Sans have enough power...? No. After all that was he really going to fail in the end? Was this all for nothing?

Wait. They were being chased by glowing blue spears...? Oh, thank Kamia. Undyne was here. She'd help Papyrus. She'd watch him, once Sans was dust. It had always taken too long for his comfort, that time Frisk finally figured out how to beat him and tried it a few times. Other monsters died right after their HP reached 0, but Sans always lasted a good minute in agony before finally leaving this place. His own personal karma.

Was Papyrus talking to him? He couldn't tell, save for that he was being tightly embraced. It hurt, a bit. But it was nice. Was it? It was becoming difficult to even think, let alone feel.

Oh, Undyne was here now too. He could just recognize a faintly glowing yellow eye through the haze and it seemed like one of the goat rulers had emerged there as well. Sans could now see why Papyrus had a hard time telling the difference. He tried to call out, tried to say goodbye. But all he could hear was commotion, all he could see was darkness, everything was fading. Faded.

It'll RESET soon anyway. He'd see them all soon.


	4. Disbelief

_Wowie! Sans, I had no idea you were so strong!_ Papyrus thought as he watched Sans in admiration. All this time, he had never seen such power from his big brother. The patterns, the blasters, the blue magic, all combined into the strongest attacks he had ever seen. It was... beautiful and terrifying at the same time. He was also quite proud of himself for stopping that human, and saving Shyren! He was glad that the human didn't do a violence; talking it out was much easier. It had been hard enough hurting Frisk so badly back in Snowdin, but now that he didn't have to prove himself to Undyne, he could fight his own way.

He had noticed his brother join the commotion a minute or too earlier, and the purple smoke around him was a bit scary, but once Papyrus saw that he could fight, could help the monsters remain free on the Surface (and that the smoke wasn't hurting Sans), he relaxed and went back to saving the weaker monsters from the human's blades.

It was just after he had scooped up one of the many temmies and took them to safety that the human he'd spared came back to fight again.

His back was facing them when the battle initiated. The world turned black and white around him, and the setting felt darker than the night and much more sinister. He turned. This time, he could see their determination clear in every part of their battle ready body. This was one fight that Papyrus was unsure if he'd be able to stop with kind words. He was scared, and wasn't quite able to hide it. A rattle traversed through his frame, but was pushed away with his will. He SPARED the human, hoping for the same remorse he'd seen in them before. Why had they come back?

Oh. Papyrus noticed the human's brown eyes flicking back and forth between him and the battle behind him. They must've been called back to help fight Sans.

Papyrus chose his words carefully. "PLEASE STOP! DO NOT WORRY, MY BROTHER WILL NOT HURT YOU IF YOU LAY DOWN YOUR WEAPON AND RETURN MY FRIENDS! EVERYONE CAN BE A GOOD PERSON, IF THEY JUST TRY!" A part of him knew it was pointless, but he believed in those words regardless.

The human stepped forward.

Papyrus shivered. It was almost like he'd been here before... A flash of white and a shadowed face appeared before his eyes for a split second as he took a deep breath, putting on his 'GREATNESS FACE'. "...AH, YOU ARE APPROACHING! I SEE MY ARGUMENTS ARE CHANGING YOUR MIND!" He had to hang on to his last sliver of hope.

Another step. Papyrus couldn't move.

"UH, I, PAPYRUS, WELCOME YOU BACK TO THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW WITH OPEN ARMS!" This was it. Papyrus hoped once more that they would choose mercy.

The human raised a dark eyebrow, stepping forward once more. Their blade jumped into their hands as though summoned by magic, and they readied a swing at Papyrus's neck.

The blade whistled downwards. Papyrus closed his eyes tightly, bracing himself for the end.

He heard the noise of slashing, and the blade made contact...? But nothing happened. Papyrus was unharmed. Had the human stopped? Reconsidered their cruelty?

He cracked open an eye. The other shot open of it's own accord. Time seemed to freeze as he beheld the horrifying sight in front of him.

Sans was standing in front of Papyrus, purple smoke dissipating and sweat rolling off his rounded skull. The blade that would've killed Papyrus was lodged in his rib cage, and his brother's dust was already drifting from the wound.

Sans smiled at Papyrus, a wrenching smile that conveyed a message only they could hear- I'm sorry, I love you. Sans's magic still functioned, and the two humans he'd been fighting were flung down the mountain with blue magic, much like the tent instruction manual from two days ago. Papyrus couldn't find it in him to feel badly for them as it felt like he was shutting down in every possible way.

"S-SANS?" Papyrus whimpered. He felt idiotic. Was that all he could muster? Was that all he could say in this frozen moment?

His brother seemed to be stronger than him. He was able to force out a whole two words. "Hey, bro." Sans's eye lights flickered, and he seemed to sag for a second before turning around, somehow still upright. His eye flashed once more once he engaged the same human who'd just landed a blow on him.

 _One HP he only has one how is he standing oh god Sans no-_

Papyrus wondered what he was doing, completely motionless while his brother fought off a human and the certain excruciating pain that is turning into dust. _Who's the lazy one now, Papyrus?_

The human fell in a few short moments. Sans fell soon after. Papyrus came to his senses, the numbness rushed away all at once to be replaced by panic.

"BROTHER! BROTHER, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" Stupid. Stupid. Of course he wasn't. "SANS! SANS?!" Said older brother's hand was disintegrating into the dust it was technically made of in the first place. Monsterkind had been first born with dust and a magic spell, after all.

His brother smiled once again, kneeling on the ground in an effort to stay somewhat upright. "Paps, you g-gotta get out of here. There are still two humans left, and th-they don't like us very much now," he choked.

Papyrus felt hot orange tears well up in his eyesockets. He dropped down beside Sans, puling his dying brother towards himself.

"Please, g-go."

Sans's white eye lights focused on a spot behind Papyrus, and his smile became a bit more real. The younger brother turned despite himself. He could make out a pair of humans running towards them being chased by... Undyne's spears?

Maybe Undyne could heal Sans! Make him better, keep him alive, save him from that Death person Papyrus had heard so much about. Papyrus wanted to believe. He wanted to believe so, so bad. It was getting very, very hard. "SANS, BROTHER, STAY AWAKE, UNDYNE WILL BE HERE SOON. STAY HERE. STAY HERE WITH ME, SANS," he whispered, hoping Sans could hear him.

He shuddered when Sans's arm transformed into grey powder. In a desperate attempt to keep his brother together, he pulled his torso close, wrapping his arms around his brother's blue, stained hoodie. The numbness was back with a vengeance and it brought despair with it hand in hand.

He didn't notice Undyne there, holding him, until she started crying. All that remained of his brother was his torso and head, eye sockets creased in pain. He looked like he was trying to say something, but nothing came out.

Asgore arrived. Papyrus, normally, would be very proud that he could tell the difference between the king and the clone. He stood for a second in front of Papyrus, clearly shocked by the scene. Papyrus didn't blame him. How could Sans be dying? Sans was apparently the most powerful of them all. He was always there, no matter what. He may not have always done something, couldn't always do something, but he was always there when Papyrus needed him most.

 _You did this. You made him come, made him save you._

"NO! NO! NO. NO NO NO NO. NO. NO!" Papyrus cried, pressing his orange streaked skull into Sans's sweater. The last of him had just dissipated, leaving only a stained blue hoodie and a pile of white dust that was slowly disappearing into the night, the only thing to ever signify that the one constant in Papyrus' life had ever been there in the first place. Papyrus couldn't remember a time in his life when Sans wasn't there. And now he'd never be there again.

Sans was dead, dust, GONE, and it was all Papyrus's fault.

* * *

A/N-

Hooray! Chapter 4 is OUT! I know this seems pretty much exactly what happened in Chapter 3, but I felt that we needed to know what was going on in Papyrus's head during everything. I'd really like your opinion on how this will affect Papyrus's overall personality!

Next chapter coming sooooooooon! I hope to see you again then!


	5. Deep Breaths

Frisk fidgeted next to Toriel, sitting beside her on a rumpled brown sleeping bag inside their tent. It was very dark out, but Toriel and Frisk both were so worried about the monsters lower down on the mountain that neither of them could sleep. So, for once, Toriel was letting Frisk stay up late.

Sans had left mere moments after Toriel had arrived to take Frisk back, vanishing in a flash of purple and blue Frisk thought they might've seen before. Prior to Toriel's arrival, Sans had spent the time muttering to himself and pacing while Frisk watched worriedly, nursing a cup of instant hot chocolate the skeleton had whipped up for them.

Toriel was trying to ease the tension by reading out loud one of Frisk's favourite books, but the human child found it hard to concentrate on listening to a snail's inner turmoil when two of their best friends were in a battle. A battle...

Frisk prodded their mom in the side, asking quietly if they could go to the washroom. When they'd traveled through the vast Underground, they'd been shocked to discover that monsters didn't need to relieve themselves as humans did. When they'd (somewhat embarrassedly) asked about it, Toriel had explained that it was because monster food was ninety-four percent magic, and so when a monster consumed it, they absorbed the magic for healing and strengthening and used the other six percent (actual substance) to gain a more solid form. But, it isn't enough to actually build up and cause them to have a need to release the non-magic material. And so, newborn monsters were malleable and monsters without mouths or ways of eating, like Moldsmal, retained their gelatinous forms until their death.

It was all very interesting. Frisk always loved learning more about their friends and how they functioned, even if the topic was a bit awkward.

Toriel gave Frisk permission, and Frisk quickly scrambled to their feet to exit the tent. As they made their way through the trees, stumbling over stray branches with only pale moonlight and the muted light from the camps to guide them, they were reminded of the first time they climbed the mountain, all those RESETS ago. They ducked behind a large tree and proceeded to do their business. They were glad for the cover of night when they saw Muffet walk by, intimidating spider pet in tow.

They had just finished and were about to skip back to Toriel when they saw an explosion of blue light from further down Mt. Ebott. It happened again, and this time Frisk could hear the faint, but distinct, sound of a Gaster Blaster firing. Sans! Sans was down there, fighting!

Unless Papyrus had suddenly incorporated the use of the huge cannons in his battle style, or another skeleton had mysteriously popped out of nowhere. Frisk strongly doubted both theories.

They crept further into the trees, aborting their previous plan of heading back to the tent. The trees were dark, barely distinguishable from the indigo sky dotted with stars. Oh! And the occasional flying magical projectile. Frisk continued to adventure into the forest, stopping when they reached a small outcropping. They could probably jump down and not hurt themselves, but they didn't want to risk getting a twisted ankle out here in the dark.

Good thing they hadn't done it just then too, because just seconds later a pointed blue bone shot past Frisk, embedding itself in a tree. Glowing blue wisps curled from the attack as it slowly disintegrated. Frisk jumped, startled so bad that they stumbled off the cliff without their consent. They emitted a small yelp as they fell, hitting the slightly damp ground with a grunt. Doing a quick physical pain check, they found that nothing seemed seriously hurt and breathed a sigh of relief.

How close were they to the battle? They'd only walked for about five minutes, though there were some steep hills that had probably led them down the mountain ways. They hesitantly peeked around the cliff's corner, warily searching for any more projectiles. Though the bones and such were (probably) Sans's doing, each would only deal 1 damage to them since they were free of LOVE in this timeline. At least, they hoped that was how it worked. Sans had never actually attacked them in any run except a full out Genocide, so they didn't have a lot of evidence to test their assumption.

Seeing no potentially dangerous pointed objects or lasers, they gave in to curiosity and crept around the corner of the dirt cliff. Hiking down yet another steep hill, they slipped on the mud from the dew and small rain shower from earlier that night and tumbled head over heels to the bottom, where they were mercifully stopped from continuing down the rest of the mountain by a well-placed bush.

A word they'd only heard screamed in one of Alphys's dubbed animes escaped from their mouth. Toriel would be mortified before promptly grounding them if she were around. The child stood up gingerly, sweeping dirt off their already brown sweatpants. They steadied themselves against the tree's side, bark rough against their small hands.

Frisk looked up and was stunned to find themselves only centimetres from a large clearing in which the skirmish was taking place. Two humans had confronted Sans, and Frisk had to avert their eyes after noticing the multiple bones impaling the pair. They couldn't have more than five HP left each. Papyrus was dashing around, picking up smaller, weaker monsters and rushing them out of the clearing, all the while using blue magic to keep one human at bay.

Frisk was both terrified at the chaos in front of them and in awe of both the skeleton brother's powers. They were shocked by Sans's purple Karma, as when they'd fought him all colour save for his magic eye and attacks had been terminated. But they also admired Papyrus, who was concentrating on being a hero and refused to harm even the humans who had started all this. He was to kind to be in this world ridden with anger and hate. The child hoped desperatly that this battle wouldn't change that fact.

Frisk stepped forward hesitantly, but than stopped when their foot made a sickening crunch on the ground. They looked down, and a gasp escaped their throat when they saw the disintegrating form of a Froggit stare up at them, half of the unfortunate Ruins native's face caved in from Frisk's misplaced step.

Frisk forced themselves not to cry, scream, run away, throw up, or use any of those in a combination as they noticed the multiple other dust piles scattered around the clearing. Toriel had explained that some humans were attack the monsters and that it was too dangerous for them to be there, but not that monsters were being murdered, crushed into powder because they were in the wrong campsite at the wrong time!

If Frisk were to imagine the First War of Humans and Monsters, it would be this, maybe at a larger scale than one field. But still, Frisk couldn't believe so much suffering had happened here. The events were catastrophic for the child's remaining positive opinion of humans. A whisper of a time past went through their head and they were about to tune into it before they heard a familiar phrase.

"...AH, YOU ARE APPROACHING! I SEE MY ARGUMENTS ARE CHANGING YOUR MIND!"

It was Papyrus. Frisk vaguely recalled hearing him speak more beforehand but had been so filled with horror and shock that they'd missed the exact words. The human that had been trapped by Papyrus's blue magic was free, and Frisk inferred Papyrus had probably let go of his hold to take more monsters to safety. They had confronted Papyrus, and Frisk couldn't help but be reminded of themselves when they had faced him.

He kept talking. Frisk had frozen, unable to move in the fear that had taken control of their body. Words they wished they had the strength to scream rushed through their head. Oh, no no no no no no no NO! Papyrus run! Don't just stand there, RUN!

It occurred to them that Papyrus might have been in the same predicament as they were.

The human swung their knife, blade flashing silver in the moonlight.

Frisk closed their eyes and ran, far and fast as they could, not caring where, just away, away, get away from there, get away! They didn't want to relive that ever again. Tears streamed down their face, the sights from that clearing too much for them to take. They didn't know how long they had been running but could feel a burn in their chest and their legs ached. They decided to sit down. Take a few deep breaths.

In. Out. In. Out. In. Ou-

Any flicker of 'not-terror' vanished as a very injured human flew through the air, landing maybe a meter away from Frisk with a loud, painful sounding, thump.

* * *

A/N: So. Yay, Chapter 5? Looking back, this scene is getting pretty repetitive... BUT! It will change next chapter, I promise. Haha, you're welcome for that informative paragraph on monsters and their business. Worked really hard on it, just for you.

Next chapter coming soon! (Or maybe it's already up?! Oh! The possibilities!)


	6. Aftermath

Frisk blinked, pupils contracting in fear as the human before them twitched. Glimmering crimson blood trailed from the human's many wounds and cuts, and Frisk's stomach twisted as they saw the two shining white bones impaling the human's arm.

The child noticed that an electric blue aura was slowly fading away from the adult human's body, and Frisk felt a terrible jolt of deja vu as they recognized the departing glow. It was the same powerful cyan magic that Sans had once used to throw their small frame around the golden Judgment Hall, once the same power that had stained their very SOUL cyan.

Frisk must've made a noise, a yelp, perhaps, since the human weakly groaned and shakily raised their head, their dark blue eyes straining to see in the suffocating darkness. "Hhhhnnnnn..." They couldn't have had more than five HP left in their battered body.

It was all too obvious to Frisk. They were one of the humans Frisk had seen attacking their friends only minutes ago, and for the first time in this run, the child wasn't sure if they wanted to extend MERCY. Though, in the current state of the adult, perhaps the only MERCY Frisk could offer them would be a quicker death, which was something Frisk did not have the nerve to commit.

Jolted back into the scene before them, Frisk jumped to their feet, and backed up slowly before outright bolting from the injured human. If that magic and those bloody bones belonged to Sans, _Sans_ , the skeleton who hadn't made a move to stop them until they'd killed almost every monster in the Underground, the frightened child didn't want to stick around until his opponent could potentially attack again. They knew they couldn't risk a FIGHT with someone who might honestly want to hurt them, for if they died on the Surface... the world would RESET once more.

They moved their short legs as fast as they could, as Frisk scrambled back up the mountain blindly, while they felt their heart pounding in their chest. Tears had made trails in their dirt-covered face, but the child had long stopped crying, because they were feeling nothing but a sharp pain when the occasional twig prodded their raw palms.

Frisk had lost track of how long they'd been climbing when they saw a wavering yellow light. It appeared to be a handheld flashlight, bobbing in and out of the trees that looked like the black pillars of a deadly castle in Frisk's imagination. The child was so desperate to be back with Toriel, or really anywhere but that dusty clearing, that they called out into the cold air, hoping whoever was holding the golden beam was a friend.

Luck embraced Frisk as they saw the familiar shape of the Dogaressa silhouetted by the flashlight. The dog woman hurried over to the shivering child, scooping Frisk into her arms as she talked rapidly in her soft voice. "(Oh Frisk, Lady Toriel has been so worried about you! We thought you might've been... uh, found by one of those humans down there, or gotten hurt in the woods. Please, don't do that again)," she requested. "(Every single monster here loves you so much, we don't know what we'd do if something happened to you!)"

Though her words were kind, Frisk couldn't stop shaking. When had the tremors even started? They asked Dogaressa if she knew where Sans and Papyrus were.

"(Sorry, weird puppy, I haven't seen them in a while. We'll ask Lady Toriel when we get back to her, ok?)"

Frisk gave a tired nod and then sighed deeply as they cuddled closer to the Dogaressa's soft black fur. She reminded them of the time the armoured Greater Dog had collapsed on their lap, back in Snowdin. It had been an... 'interestingly fluffy' experience for the small human. As Frisk found themselves absorbed in the rhythmic sound of paws on dirt and grass, they let themselves relax, their overworked body in much need of rest after what they had just done and witnessed on the mountain. Their eyes slid shut, and their breathing deepened until the child was fast asleep.

* * *

"U-Undyne, please ho-hold still! I need t-to finish ba-bandaging this one!"

"Alph, can't this wait? You should try to help the other guys. They got it way worse than me, I can take a hit!"

Frisk's eyes shot open, suddenly alert at the last sentence of the conversation they were over-hearing between their two friends Alphys and Undyne. The memories of what they'd been up to on the mountain in the night popped into their head, and they suddenly recalled that the last time they'd seen Papyrus, a human was about to stab him with a knife! Frisk tried to get up but found they were covered in a mountain of blankets and pillows. A tuft of white fur drifted in front of their nose. Without a doubt, it was Toriel's doing.

Wiggling out from under the immense pile (how were there so many blankets in the world, let alone this one camp!?) the child rushed to the thin door of the tent from where they'd heard voices.

Kicking on their small brown shoes, Frisk barged out of the tent, a lone blanket wrapped around one of their legs. Freeing the soft grey fabric, they anxiously inquired what had happened, and if Papyrus was ok, heedless of their abrupt entrance.

"OH MY GOD, FRISK!" howled Undyne as she ungracefully toppled over from her seated position beside Alphys, who was holding a long strip of bandages in her clawed hands as well as a spray bottle. She hissed as she sat back up, nursing her left arm.

Sorry! Sorry! Was she ok?

"Uh, yeah, I'm good. Sorry for yelling at ya, punk," Undyne reassured, though her voice was missing its usual energy. "What did you want, again?"

Frisk repeated their previous spiel.

Alphys froze for a moment before recomposing herself. "Uh, uh, glad you're awake, Frisk! Y-you gave us a pretty bi-big scare last night! We're okay, uh, you wanted to s-see Papyrus?"

Frisk put their small hands on their hips and asked Alphys to just get to the point. They didn't want to be rude, but they were still a bit tired from last night. It looked like it was around eight in the morning, which meant Frisk had had maybe six hours of sleep. They were rewarded, however, with an almost missed glance behind Frisk's shoulder.

Without waiting for any more dialogue from Alphys, Frisk turned around. To their delight, they could just make out Toriel's purple robes a while down the dirt path and eagerly rushed off to meet her. In their head, they prepared a sincere apology for wandering off on the mountain last night but decided to leave out what they had seen in the clearing. Frisk reassured themselves that Papyrus would be ok, he had a whole bunch of HP and had Sans to protect him last night. Both of them were fine. Yep.

As they neared Toriel, they noticed what their mom was actually doing. Toriel was talking to a tall human dressed in garments Frisk recognized all too well. Police officers? Well (censored). Old habits from their old life rose to the surface, and Frisk aborted their mission to greet Toriel, instead proceeding to promptly jump in a bush.

They shivered at the sight of the officer, remembering many long, cold nights spent running away from people who would make them live with foster parents. They never knew what was so terrifying at the thought of that, but present Frisk was now thankful for those times. If they ended up living with humans, they probably never would've climbed Mt. Ebott and met all their best friends! Who were fine and not all slaughtered by humans at all yep that's right.

Frisk decided to tune into the words before them, perking their ears as their mother conversed with the officer. About their friends not dying at all.

"...dare you, how dare you ignore this! Monsters have been murdered, whole families have been murdered, and you do nothing!"

"Ms. Toriel, please try to stay calm an-"

"STAY CALM? DO YOU HEAR WHAT YOU ARE SAYING?"

"Ms. Toriel, please-"

"NO! DO NOT SILENCE ME! YOUR PEOPLE HAVE ATTACKED US, KILLED US, AND YOU REFUSE TO DO ANYTHING BECAUSE WE'RE MONSTERS? WE'RE NOT YOUR RESPONSIBILITY?" Toriel paused in her rage, taking a breath before lowering her voice. "Too many of my people, my friends, died last night for me to accept your pathetic excuses. As Queen of the Monsters, I am ordering you to deal with this mess, _answer_ my child's letters, and GET OFF OUR MOUNTAIN."

Frisk knew she wasn't actually Queen, anymore. But her words had the intended effect on the officer, who looked like he was about to say something, but in the end only sighed. "Very well. Your Majesty." He forced a bow, then curtly turned and walked away.

Frisk held a hand to their mouth. Had they really just seen Toriel yelling at a police officer? If it were Undyne or Mettaton, they wouldn't really be surprised. But Toriel was usually so collected, and even if she got mad, it was more of a mother's annoyance at her whiny child, not the full outrage Frisk had just experienced. The child was starting to not want to know what had gone down in that clearing. Reeeeeeeally not wanting that at all. Please.

As the police car drove away, Toriel stood erect for a few seconds, watching it travel back into the city banned from them, before turning swiftly and walking stiffly back up the pathway, hands in tight fists.

Frisk considered letting her walk by before getting out of the uncomfortable position they had brought upon themselves, but the plan was discarded without remorse when they saw the tears glistening on Toriel's snout. Something was seriously wrong.

They didn't even have to consider revealing themselves, hopping onto the path and running up behind Toriel and wrapping their arms around her like they hadn't seen her for a year.

The goat woman jumped, startled, but when she realized who it was relaxed as she bent down to hug Frisk back, talking anxiously. "My child! When did you wake up? Oh, I was so worried last night when you took so long to come back, I thought something had happened, oh, don't EVER do that again-"

Mom. They were fine! Just a bit tired. But why had she been, uh, yelling at the police officer?

"Y-you heard that?" Toriel said worriedly, nonchalantly wiping away her tears when Frisk looked down at the ground. Man, that dirt was interesting.

Frisk nodded guiltily. Were they in trouble? They just hadn't wanted to interrupt her conversation. (HOLY COW that was the coolest dirt ever!)

"No, no my child. Of course not. We were just... talking about w-what happened last night."

Softly, they asked what exactly did happen. They had heard her say monsters had died. Frisk knew that Toriel would try to keep as much information from Frisk as possible, so they decided they might as well tell her what they already knew. Words spilled out of Frisk's mouth, from Sans's departure to the human who landed in front of them. So much for that plan.

The whole time, Toriel said not a word. She gasped at appropriate times and seemed to genuinely care about Frisk's misadventure. But Frisk could tell something was off with Toriel.

They quietly said her real name, cutting off their story.

"My child?"

Who had the humans killed? They had heard her say that many of her friends were dead. Frisk tried not to imagine the scenes from their No Mercy route, but it was hard to stop the vivid pictures of the Whimsum's wings disintegrating, or Doggo slashed into dust, or a red scar- Nope nope nope.

Without waiting for Toriel's answer, they blurted out the fear that had been eating at them since they woke up. Was Papyrus dead? They'd ran, but...

Frisk looked on in absolute horror as tears once again flowed down Toriel's usually smiling face. Oh, no... Were they right? Frisk's tears decided to copy Toriel's. No one was happy about this.

"Oh, my child... no. Papyrus is... unharmed."

But... they knew what they saw, down in that clearing.

"...It's Sans, my child. The humans killed Sans."

* * *

A/N- I know Toriel seems (cough) really (cough) dramatic, but I see Toriel and Sans as good friends and I imagine Toriel would be heartbroken if anything happened to him, or any of her friends for that matter. Y'know. Just. Saying?

ALSO! Yay, Chapter 6!

* * *

I need to talk more to channel my overflowing ego! Is it just me or is this chapter long for my usual? Huh. Well.


	7. A Questionable Amount of Comprehension

A/N- Just! A note. I do not swear, so whenever there is a profanity in this fanfic, I will replace said profanity with good 'ol (censored) here. Heads up, my parentheses pal will be popping up quite a bit more later on... Ehehehehe.

* * *

Undyne bit back the fierce pain in her left arm from where a human had landed a hit on her, looking down at her friend (and maybe more than that), Alphys, as the yellow lizard monster wrapped a long strip of beige bandages around Undyne's wound. Frisk had just left, but both Undyne and Alphys were too tired to stop the insistent child. Undyne's side still ached from the impact of falling sideways.

The blue fish monster wished she could take away the hopeless, shell-shocked look on Alphys's face. She knew that Alphys had a tendency to blame herself for everything that went wrong, and then hide it inside. Undyne had witnessed what that had done to her, the blue woman only ever knowing the nervous, introverted Alphys caused by the DT experiments.

But she'd heard stories from two girls, Batty and Cratty or something like that, who had told her about a carefree, nerdy Alphys from a long time ago. Undyne would give almost anything to see that version of Alphys. Except maybe her prized Captain Lightning figurine...

"Alph."

Alphys looked up, brown eyes flashing in swiftly covered fear as she met Undyne's gaze. "U-Undyne? What's wrong? A-Am I hurting you?" she stammered.

Undyne wrapped her good arm around Alphys, and pulled her close as she gently head-butted Alphys's creased forehead. "Nah, I'm good. Kinda worried 'bout you, though," she said, ignoring the knot in her throat as she responded a bit late to Alphys's question.

"W-Wha?"

"Alphys, I am not going to let you beat yourself up over ANY of... this," Undyne growled, releasing Alphys. "If anything, it's, it's, it's MY fault!" Undyne leaned back, covering her face with her webbed blue hands as she took a deep breath. "Oh God, Alphys, what happened? What happened? Everything was so... it was, well, freedom! I mean, even if it wasn't completely ideal, WE WERE (censored) FREE! And now a good fifth of us are dead! I could've, I could've done SOMETHING, could've gotten there quicker!"

She lowered her hands back into her lap, though her golden eye stayed closed. The other was covered by a black fabric patch, the result of an accident when she was younger. Undyne felt Alphys's clawed hand creep into her own, bandages momentarily forgotten.

"Undyne... I-I... I know I'm a-a-an awful therapist, a-and this probably w-won't help at all... but..." Alphys trailed off.

Undyne's eye opened to see Alphys scrubbing a tear off her scaled cheek. She tightened her grip on Alphys's hand, hanging onto her like a lifeline in the chaotic storm that had drifted over them. Before all of that, the skies were just cloudy. It was hard to see the sun, but in the end, it wasn't raining. Then came the lightning.

"They n-need us r-right now. Frisk, T-Toriel, Papyrus... e-everyone. I d-don't know how thing a-are going to g-go now, but I-I know that the monsters n-need us a-a lot," Alphys continued.

Undyne felt a pang of worry at Papyrus's name. She hadn't seen her weird skeleton friend since she and Asgore had carried him back to the campsite a good hour after Undyne had arrived, with the skeleton still clutching his brother's jacket so hard that Undyne was sure there were holes in the dusty blue fabric.

"...you're right," Undyne admitted. "They need us to be there. Everyone else is a wreck." Her eye flashed with newfound determination, Undyne's posture straightening as she looked Alphys dead in the eye. "Alph, you're the best therapist ever."

* * *

"C'mon, Paps, you can do it..."

"I DON'T KNOW, WON'T SHE BE MAD?"

"Nah, she'll get over it. She always does."

"BUT..."

"I could try."

"NO! YOU'RE STILL HEALING!"

"..."

"...UH..."

"..."

"SANS, I NEED HELP! DON'T SLEEP NOW!"

"Sorry! Sorry. Uh, yeah, ok, move it a bit to the right..."

"I FEEL SOMETHING! I FEEL SOMETHING!"

"Good job, bro. Now just... pull it towards yourself. As hard as you can. We don't have the key, so you need to break the lock open."

"WHAT IF IT COMES THROUGH THE DOOR AND HITS US?"

"It won't. Trust me."

"OK..."

"Besides, it wouldn't do much damage. Your attacks do, what, 5 each? We can take it."

"YES, OF COURSE. YOU'RE RIGHT, YOU ALWAYS ARE."

"Heh. Whatever you say, bro."

"...SANS?"

"Just pull."

"NNNNNNNNGH! I-I CAN- ALMOST-"

"..."

"..."

"Papyrus!"

"SANS!"

"You did it! You opened the door!"

"I... I DID IT!"

"C'mon! We gotta get out of here before-"

" _Comic Sans Bold. What in the world are you doing_?"

* * *

"NO! NO! NO! NO. NO. NO..." gasped Papyrus as he thrashed violently in his race car patterned sleeping bag. "NO, DON'T HURT HIM, NO, STOP-"

"Papyrus?"

Blinking hard, Papyrus's vision cleared itself of the black dots and focused to reveal King Asgore leaning over him, a worried expression taking over his usually relaxed features. Asgore looked like he hadn't slept for a week, though a part of Papyrus knew, subconsciously, that it had only been a day since- NO.

"Papyrus, are you awake? You were... screaming. Did you have a nightmare?" The goat-like monster's words were gentle as if comforting a very small child.

Papyrus supposed the habit may have come from the king's children, Asriel and (shshshshsh), no, Asriel and (shshshshsh)... Ugh, what was their name again? Karl? Kayla? Cat? In his haze of concentration, he tuned out the kind words of the king. Papyrus couldn't remember and wasn't sure he was supposed to. It lingered in his mind, a constant buzz of nothing, _you are nothing, nothing, nothing nothing nothing_ \- HELP ME-

Desperately, lashing out with the shining magic of his SOUL, Papyrus found the string on the other side, and he pulled. It reminded him of something. Rainbow swirled for a moment, drawing him in. His SOUL ached, but it was a nice ache like he had just been training with Undyne and had gotten a bit closer to winning. Maybe. And then he was back? But it was the wrong place. He was back. But not. Papyrus was confused. _You_ _were so confused, always confused._

 _I suppose you were meant to be confused._ "NO, I WASN'T!" Papyrus told them firmly, and felt a strange spark of fear light in his bones. Who was that? Papyrus recognized them, from... somewhere. The shiny place, the place where they had lived...? But he couldn't remember, not really.

 _He_ remembered, though. UGH! Everything spun, the world revolving around him like clockwork. For a second, he though he saw something...

He cried out for help. And Nobody came. His eyes hurt. Their eyes hurt. Questioning... Oh, the white. Naturally.

 _Welcome back. I see the process is starting. I'm glad to see that it works after all this time..._

"I DON'T UNDERSTAND! PLEASE, TELL ME WHERE WE ARE! WHAT'S GOING ON?"

 _You won't understand yet. It shall take a while for him to sink in, at least a few days. I can wait, though. I'm excited to get back to our work._

 _We can change things, together. We can change everything, S̶a̶n̶s̶._

"D-DO I KNow you?"

 _You did. You will. I assume he tried to protect you from the blast... No matter. It can't have been long since all of that. Stay in the Lab. I'll be back._

* * *

As the shadows collected around him, the darkness ran Red.


	8. Dust Ceremony

"Papyrus, my child, it is time to go." Toriel's voice was strained, the goat-like ex-queen almost definitely just as pained to attend the Dust Service as anyone else.

Papyrus looked up from where he had been lying on the old green couch, wincing as the bright sunlight streaming from the now-open tent door sparkled in his vision. He nodded blandly, wishing she would just close the flap so he could see.

"I'll... just wait for you outside. You should get changed."

The tall skeleton exhaled softly in relief as the brilliant radiance was dampened to the dull glow he preferred, with the only light in the tent coming from the vague echo of the sunlight outside that was strong enough to push through the tent walls. Papyrus had been spending a lot of time in said tent since he'd 'spaced out' in front of Asgore.

' _Hmmm... You aren't trying to ignore me, are you?'_

"N-NO, oF cOUrSE NOT," he assured. Papyrus still wasn't sure who he was speaking to, or what the weird dreams he'd been having were about. But he recognized the... changes.

Everything was changing. He couldn't tell if it was a good thing.

' _The procedure will be confusing, S̶a̶n̶s̶. But you've always been the stronger one, haven't you?'_

"YES. ThaT'S RighT," Papyrus said, not knowing completely what he was saying. Lately, every time he made a decision, it felt like something else was pushing on him, making a difference in his mind. He felt like he was remembering something he never even knew in the first place.

' _Good. Good. Yes, this is very good. We'll be able to start again soon.'_

"PLEAse, CAN YOU TELL mE what'S HAPPeninG?" Papyrus unsteadily got up from the sofa, pulling on the new yellow and gold clothes that someone had doubtless brought for him in the last few days to wear to the Dust Service, in which the remains of the monsters struck down the recent battle would be scattered on their favourite things from when they were living. Gold and yellows were traditional for those types of ceremonies, as the Golden Flowers symbolized eternal life. Or something like that. Maybe.

Papyrus hadn't ever really understood, and every time the annual Dust Service came around in the Underground, Sans would have to explain to Papyrus what was even happening. Why were they sprinkling powder on that book? Why toss all that grey dust on that tree?

Only now did Papyrus understand. It was for the people they left behind, for the memories that a random shoe would bring back, or the reminder of a lost friend's favourite food when they saw that powdered bowl of soup, or whatever it was. A part of Papyrus wished he was still confused, knowing that his brother's dust would be used as a reminder for Papyrus. As if he would ever forget...

The past two days had swept by in a blur. Papyrus all but completely removed himself from his once social-life to hide in his tent and try to figure out what in the world was happening to him. He could feel something, something big. Not just the voice that followed him everywhere since he'd 'zoned out' or whatever, but also a presence. In his dreams, he was always someone else, someone Papyrus recognized.

Was it S̶a̶n̶s̶? Was S̶a̶n̶s̶ talking to him in his dreams?

 _'Weren't you paying attention? I remember you being so much more intelligent... I suppose the new adjustments may affect your mental capabilities... A shame. I had hopes that you would be my apprentice again once we'd gotten all this cleared up. Truly, a shame.'_

"ExCUse me, mySteRy voICe, but coulD you Please explain what's happening-" Papyrus abruptly cut off his request, skeletal hands flying to his neck as he processed what he had just heard come out of his mouth. For a second, his voice had completely changed from his usual loud, enthusiastic tone into a softer, lower voice that sent shivers down his spine. He'd thought it was just the shock after what had... happened, but now he could tell it was more than that.

 _'I suppose I will have to explain before you do something dramatic... (sigh). S̶a̶n̶s̶, before our incident I decided to- Oh. Queen Toriel is back. This'll have to wait.'_

After announcing her presence, large, white, furry paws tentatively un-zipped the tent door, and the oddly loud, drawn-out rustle snapped Papyrus back into reality. It was time to go.

* * *

"Would the family of Ms. Humasirtalakiffi Whimsumara please come forward?" called out a yellow-robed Asgore, his low voice booming out over the field with the help of a lone microphone.

Papyrus could tell Asgore was trying to be collected in front of his people, but since he was sitting in the front row of chairs in the lush green field at the very base of the mountain, he could easily see the dark bags under the king's eyes and the way his hands shook as four trembling Whimsums flew up onto the small stage.

The largest one took the offered mic in both hands and faced the monsters before him, taking a deep breath before speaking timidly. "Tala w-was so happy to b-be on the Surface. For the few mornings she c-could enjoy it, she would drag us out to see the s-sunrise. She met th-the human Frisk in the Ruins where we lived and came back to tell us h-how nice they were to her... even though she was t-to scared to talk to them. Tala's favourite thing was playing Humans and Monsters with her brother, Kampalatoorewen and her best friends, Jessinanhullua and Amamaskilltov. We will all miss her very much, and we believe she would want to be remembered as an optimist. Her dust w-will be spread on our family portrait and welcome mats as a symbol of how much she loved us. T-Thank you," the Whimsum finished and flew off the stage in a tearful blur as the audience bowed their heads in respect. They would spread the dust after the Ceremony concluded.

Many more sorrowful families rose to the stage and gave the short speech about their lost loved one and what would happen to their remains. Papyrus tried to concentrate, he really tried, but all he could think about was when it was his turn to go up there, in front of everyone, and talk about his brother.

' _This could be complicated... I'm not sure how much longer you have until we're done. Just... follow along with me. This will be over and then we never have to do this again. Understand?'_

"UhhHhhhh... uHhhhhHhh... ok. OK," Papyrus said under his breath and felt his bones start to tingle at the edges. Wow, he really was.. nervous? Was that the word? He didn't have time to finish that thought, because just then Asgore announced, with a worried look down at the skeleton, "And how would the... brother of Mr. Comic Sans Bold please come forward?"

Comic Sans Bold. That was... his name. Wasn't it? Rising to his feet, Papyrus pushed back his strange tingling and walked, if somewhat unsteadily, towards Asgore. As he passed Undyne and Alphys, the blue fish-woman gave him a small pat, as if urging him onwards.

A small gesture, but it helped. If only he couldn't see the nervous expression pasted across her features.

Then he was on the stage, holding the microphone.

What was he supposed to do? He hadn't practiced at all.

' _Ok. Breath. Now, uh, what did Sans like to do? Try to keep your voice, um, 'Papyrus-y'.'_

"SANS LIkeD THE LOOKING AT THE StaRS A LOT."

' _Good! Just talk to me. What other kinds of things did he like? Activities? Foods?'_

"HE ALSO LIkED REALLY BAD pUNS AND PRANKS," Papyrus continued.

' _Ok, ok. You're doing fine. So, well, did Sans enjoy the Surface?'_

"UHH... HE WAS VERY EXCITED TO GO TO THE NEW GRILLBY'S ONCE IT OPENED..." Papyrus supplied, fighting off the hot buzz in the corners of his eye sockets. "AND HE REALLY LIKED HANGING OUT WITH HIS FRIENDS." Now that he was going, he couldn't stop the words spilling out of his mouth. "I KNOW HE LOVED TALKING TO LADY TORIEL BEHIND THE DOOR, AND EATING MY... TerRIBlE... SpagheTTI, AND PLANniNG AWFUL PUNS To TRY anD MAke me laugh, and he was very good at following Frisk around an-"

' _Oh dear. Let's wrap this up quickly. Where will you scatter his dust?'_

"HHHhhhhhnnnnnnn..." Papyrus moaned, ignoring the frightened looks of his friends in the audience. He had to get off! He had to get off. Had to get OFF-

He was off. He was... in the tent.

' _It appears that the process is finished. Welcome back, S̶a̶n̶s̶.'_


	9. Seriously, V, You Suck!

A/N: AHHHHHHHHHHHH! Thank you all for 1000 views! It makes me feel very happy to know that my fan fiction is actually being read and (maybe) entertaining people! Also a HUGE thank-you to my beta-reader, FictionGirl11, for being fabulous and making this story 5 times better.

Here we go!

* * *

'It took you long enough. I thought I'd made it instantaneous... better late than never. Sans, we should go. We have work to do.'

"Wait. V, wait. What the heck's going on- Oh God. You didn't." Realization dawned in his skeletal face. He felt a sinking feeling in his SOUL.

'You know perfectly well what I did. Be glad you're alive.'

"No. NO! Give him back! Please, please, can't you do something?" His voice had changed from his usual calm tone, for it was laced with what could be described as panic. OOC for the skeleton who'd watched everyone he knew die, over and over again... but this was different in a twisted way. This could be... permanent.

'Sans, we don't have time for you to be sentimental about that spare.'

"Spare? Are you kidding me? Do you know where we are? WHEN we are?"

There was a pause, but it didn't last long. "I... No. I do not. But it doesn't matter. I assume time has passed, and I am certain that some of us were killed by some humans. But our research is still important. Sans, don't you remember? We were going to save everyone! Once we break the Barrier, we'll be free! You and I, Sans, we'll be heroes." Her voice grew in volume, and a spark of excitement lit her words.

It was not so for him. "V... You don't know what you've just done. We aren't there anymore! You NEVER change, never. You couldn't just let me die, had to actually, seriously, finish the (censored) transfer, and now..." Sans cut off before the pain he was feeling could leak into his words. He didn't want to give her the satisfaction. "We need to go...somewhere... else."

'Very well. Though I don't want to waste much more time."

He vanished.

* * *

The house was quiet and empty, a far cry from the days when there was a family in its walls. But those days were long past, and only the faintest echoes of a 'mother' and her two boys remained. The blue and purple zigzag carpet had been present on the floor for as long as the old house had stood in Snowdin, and the burgundy wallpaper was old enough to rival Gerson.

A skeleton stood in the middle of what must have been the living room, looking around wistfully at the green couch, television, and sock that lay beside it. He was sure it was stuck to the floor by now.

But sightseeing wasn't what he'd came for. "V? You there?"

'I literally can't leave.'

"...that's not unsettling at all."

'I'm... glad to hear it?'

His features hardened in annoyance as he sighed. "It was a joke. Anyway, on to more important things. WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY BROTHER?" He was on the edge of his patience.

'Sans, Sans. I thought we talked about this before. If something were to happen to you, I can't afford to lose all my work. I am... surprised, to say the least, about how the other one... changed, but at least the transfer was seemingly flawless.'

"So. He's just... gone?" Papyrus...couldn't be gone. Not like this.

'I thought I'd drilled this into you years ago... IT WAS NEVER REALLY HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE. What has happened in my absence for you to become so... attached to that thing? Don't you care about our work anymore?' The other being's condescending tone of surety was infuriating. She didn't know anything, there was no reason for him TO continue the work.

"You seriously don't know what has happened, do you? The Barrier's down! We're free, V. It's been... almost eleven years."

A pin dropping would've resonated throughout the house. An uneasy atmosphere had faded into the room like fog, and the frame of the skeleton shook slightly as he accepted his own words.

Finally, she spoke again. 'Eleven years... eleven years I was gone. But how? It feels like mere days have gone by since our accident!'

"Our accident? The only thing that happened was you trying to go too fast and Papyrus (censored) saving me! And another question for you, V- how are you awake? I SAW what that stuff did to you!" He'd also seen what had happened immediately after. There shouldn't be anything left of her to communicate with.

'It turns out that when one is Determined enough, anything is possible. Be glad I've forgiven you for what happened in the lab.'

"How are you even- Oh. V, did you actually manage to SAVE? That's... incredible. I suppose the excess Karma I released when I, uh, died, rekindled your consciousness from..."

An amused chuckle echoed in his skull. 'You're smarter than I gave you credit for. Go on.'

"Ha! We were right, weren't we? You were in the Crystal Timeline, the fractured one!" His voice had gained an excited edge, and it seemed as if his past anger had been brushed away for continuing a conversation from long ago. "What was it like? Was anyone else there?"

'I can tell you everything... if you continue with our work.' Immediately the excitement died, replaced with the previous annoyance and a new tone of disbelief.

"...you're kidding. V, we don't need to work anymore! We're all free, and Frisk... Frisk seems content. I..."

'You've grown soft. Don't you remember what we saw in the chart? The loops never end. Some last for longer, years, even, but they all RESET eventually. We can change the focus of our experiments. Put a stop to that child's manipulations of time.'

The skeleton grew silent.

'Sans, do not tell me you've given up on our vision. We were going to save everyone. Even when the experiments were, well, painful for you, I know you wanted the same future I did! The future I still want!'

"V, those three years were the worst of my life. I went through my days knowing that if I didn't go along with your plans, you'd use Papyrus instead. I... can't say I wished you dead. You're the only mother I've ever really known, even if you suck." The anger was back with a bitter undertone.

'Thank you.'

"Anytime. But, when you died or whatever, I was finally free. Papyrus was free! He could have a future, a real one, outside a laboratory."

'That's all very nice, I'm glad you remember what you wanted when you were thirteen. Get to the point.'

"I'm saying that I don't want to get back into that (censored). You can go possess a toilet for all I care."

'I'm not a ghost, I'm my own conscience that I programmed into your skull.'

"...You never did get my jokes. Get lost," he snapped. A floorboard creaked in perfect timing with his his frustrated huff. "But first, tell me how to get Papyrus back in his body. I don't care if it dusts me for real, just spare Paps."

'On one condi-'

"One condition' can go to (censored)! Either you give Papyrus back or I do it myself and kill you for good while I'm at it!" Sans's usual cool had been lost long ago, the skeleton having reached his breaking point. "Listen, Paps is all I got. Can't you just let me be the expendable one for once? We're not in the lab anymore, V. We're BOTH monsters."

She had retreated into the back of his mind, and her voice was faint. But he could still hear the echoes of her answer.

'Very well. Take us downstairs.

"Inna minute. Gotta check something first." Sans could feel her annoyance with being told to wait. For once, he was the one who was insisting she listen to his demands, and he had to be sure of something.

Sans focused in and conducted a self CHECK. He hadn't had to do this since forever, however, it was the only way to be certain he could bring Pap back. A basic readout appeared before his eyes.

Name: Comic Sans MS Bold-Italic

Species: Monster; Skeleton

LV: 1 (Sans snorted- his LV must've been wiped. It used to be quite higher.)

EXP: 0

HP: 1/1

ATK: 1

DEF: 1

MP: 1,250/1,250

MpM: 10

HpM: .1

DoT: (Karma) 1-10 dpa

SOUL Status: FULL, FUSED- FUSED WITH: 'Papyrus'

Primary trait: Magic (White)

Secondary Trait: Wisdom (Indigo)

Sharer Status: HP: 680/680

For the first time since 'dying', the skeleton smiled before vanishing into thin air. Papyrus wasn't gone for good.

* * *

"Um, so, I suppose we will just... continue on with the ceremony..." Asgore said awkwardly as the mix of surprised and worried titters of the audience died down. Most of the monsters seemed relatively unaffected by Papyrus's abrupt disappearance, but there were a select few who were talking in hushed, worried voices.

"What the heck just happened?" questioned Undyne fiercely.

"I believe Papyrus had a panic attack... not surprising, considering the circumstances. Perhaps I should go after him..." said Toriel.

"M-maybe he just wants s-some s-space to cope better." Alphys nervously interjected. Toriel looked like she wanted to argue before a soft voice broke into their conversation.

"...hello, undyne, alphys, your majesty, frisk..."

The four turned to see Grillby, the bar tender of the aptly named 'Grillby's' in Snowdin. He nodded respectfully to Toriel before speaking again. "...if I may..."

"Of course, Mr. Grillby, please. Any thing you have to say?" said Toriel in response.

"...thank you. ...you see, for all the time I have known Papyrus, he has never possessed to ability to "shortcut" as he just did. only... his brother had that magic. I do not know for sure, but if I were to guess, I'd say that it appears Papyrus may be... inheriting his brother's special powers."

The four were shocked into silence until Undyne piped up. "Wait, you mean Sans had than one crazy power? Could he summon awesome bone spears? Why didn't he use them?!"

Frisk jumped into the conversation. They told Undyne that Sans could change other's SOUL colour like Papyrus, summon skull cannons, teleport, use regular and blue bone attacks, and had a strange purple power that burned almost like acid!

"My child, how do you know all of this?" Tories inquired, looking both intrigued and mildly concerned.

Um. They'd asked...? Flashes of endless waves of attacks, a glowing cyan yellow eye and a dusty knife came to mind before being swiftly ejected from thoughts.

"...Frisk is correct, though they are missing a particular thing. Sans had those powers, but he could also sometimes... predict things. A particular time when he'd had a few too many ketchup bottles, he told me all about what I would do the next day... and most of it happened..." Grillby's flames seemed softer, almost, remembering his old friend fondly.

"R-Really?" added Alphys.

"...yes. But that's irrelevant. You should find poor Papyrus..." suggested Grillby. The man of fire walked away as if the conversation had never happened, obviously used to being overlooked as a bartender and only showing up to give the ordered food before leaving guests to their own.

Frisk couldn't help but wonder if Grillby was right about Papyrus getting Sans's abilities and what it would mean for the near future...

* * *

A/N: MP = Magic potential, DoT = Damage over Time (dpa = damage per attack), MpM = Magic per Minute (referring to how quickly magical energy can replenish) The stats came up with by cross referencing Sans' actual stats and a few video games for mage and assassin characters, as well as a few Undertale forums and fan theories. When a monster performs a self CHECK, they can see all their stats, not just the bare bones ones for battle. This is just for clarification. Enjoy~


	10. Secret Lab!

A/N- WOW. A sudden spike of views. Thanks everyone!

Also, if you want, listen to 'Sans's Secret Lab' while reading this for what would play if this chapter was in game! 3

* * *

Verdana Constantia Garamond-Aster Italic had never imagined that the trembling little 10-year-old orphan she'd taken in all those years ago would've grown into _this_. This stubborn, lazy skeleton who was trying awfully hard to hide his... rather harsh thoughts from her. She supposed some of his anger was justified. She didn't, and wouldn't, deny the fact that she had basically ruined his childhood. But had the things they'd done really been that bad? Verdana seemed to remember him being a lot more enthusiastic before she'd had to make that other one.

She refused to think of it as a monster. It wasn't a monster! Only a shell, a vessel. Verdana had no idea how it'd developed a personality, but she wasn't about to make that one thing change how much she detested it. After all, it was that thing's fault she was in this rather uncomfortable situation at the current moment.

"So, V, we're here. What are you going to do?"

Straight to the point. Very unlike the Comic Sans she thought she knew, who would always respond with some sort of joke. But, that was to be expected after eleven years. Verdana was still surprised over how much time had passed, for while her conscience drifted between worlds, her perspective of time had been altered. A downside of this was that her 'accident' was just fading from her mind, like an unimportant memory, even though it was the only thing she remembered thinking about in the time that she was probably in the Crystal Timeline. \

She didn't want to let go of that knowledge yet.

"Let's see... I assume you've discovered the other floors by now. Take us to the fourth one down," she ordered. The laboratory she'd designed all those years ago had the unsuspicious, rather plain main floor that would probably lead anyone who might of discovered the lab behind her house in Snowdin to, with hope, lead any people interested in her activities off the trail of the (maybe a little bit illegal) experiments performed in the lower levels that one could access through the hidden elevator.

Comic Sans stepped forward, facing the wall south of the drawers of blueprints. He summoned a glowing magic bone that Verdana knew would activate the magic sensors that would let only Comic Sans or her access the elevator. When the wall split down the middle and parted to reveal a dusty metal box that Comic Sans slid into before the door shut and the elevator lit up with buttons lining the walls, all leading to different floors or rooms within the lab that Verdana had spent the first few years in the Underground constructing in preparation for her projects to break the monsters out and destroy humanity, Verdana let her brilliant mind wander over what had happened to her.

She'd been starting another experiment when things started going wrong. Verdana supposed it was a fault on her part that she hadn't noticed, but she'd been so busy at the time that the behavioural issues in one of the subjects didn't seem like such a big deal. And now here we are, she scolded herself. Verdana made a note to be more observant in future tests.

There would be more after all of this; she refused to accept anything else. After everything, she couldn't leave her science now. Science was, always had been, everything to her. She remembered her father teaching her the stuff even when she was practically still a babybones at seven.

That was before everything started to go wrong, wasn't it? She missed her old life sometimes, though science had become a good substitute.

Anyways, if she was right, nothing should've been changed from when she left. The furniture would be too Determined to gather dust, anyway. Everything could go back to normal, as it would've been if it weren't for that darned 'brother' of Comic Sans's.

"Comic Sans, where do you think you're going?" Verdana snapped out of her thoughts just as Sans turned a corner.

"Uh, my room? Did you have somewhere else in mind?"

She sighed in annoyance before dishing out a scathing response. "The lab, you idiot! Where else would we go?" Honestly.

Sans didn't reply but did turn around and go down the correct hallway the second time around. His stupid red boots slapped against the grey tiles, over, and over, and over, and ov- "We're here," he muttered.

She knew it had only been a matter of minutes, no more than twenty, but it felt like a day to her eager mind. "Oh, good. Now, then, Comic Sans, I'll need to access the control panel. Would you... key in the passcode?" It felt odd to ask something from him as if they were equals, as she'd never had to before but felt like it'd be necessary to keep him placated for now. She made yet another mental note to stop thinking that way. They were not equals, and never would be. He was a pathetic child and she was the most brilliant scientist in the Underground.

Unless some new genius had turned up while she was away...

It was then she realized that Comic Sans had not made a single move in regards to unlocking the computer before him on the gleaming silver table lying in the middle of the room.

"What's the matter?" Verdana sighed. "...Oh. You don't remember the passcode, do you." It wasn't a question. Of course he didn't; it'd been years and he'd only seen this computer twice in his life. "It's HelveticaGAI, with capitals on H and the GAI," she supplied tonelessly. It would do no good to think of the person her password was named after; emotions would only slow down her mental capabilities. Verdana wished she could just get rid of the darned things.

Kamia knows that was what she'd been trying to do for the last thirty years...

Comic Sans typed the letters into the computer quickly, with swift pecks of his phalanges. Verdana noticed that he favoured his left hand when clicking the keys. Was he left-handed? Verdana didn't know if she'd ever taken note of it before.

The screen lit up with a friendly message of "Welcome Back, Verdana".

"Here we are," she breathed. A strange feeling twisted in her stomach, and it took her a moment to realize that it was anticipation. How odd; it'd been a while since she'd really cared about the results of an experiment. The last would've had to be when she made the copy; lives had been on the line.

Maybe she should care more; it might enhance her productivity... 'Verdana, you're a mess', she told herself roughly. Caring was an emotion, the things she DIDN'T want. And it was a bit sad that she had to tell herself to care at all.

"So... what now?" Comic Sans tapped his phalanges together in an annoying rhythm that Verdana found herself recognizing but couldn't place her finger on where she'd heard it. Dada DA Da, da da da, dadada...

"Look through the desktop. There will be a file labeled 'DT Experiments PartA'." Heavens, she really needed to clean off her desktop. It was a jumbled mess of files and documents. She had thought she was more organized than this; evidently not.

Comic Sans groaned, seemingly observing that same fact. "Geez, V, you couldn't've just sorted these a little bit? This is like my room!"

'Hmm... he's already getting comfortable. It seems he is already remembering what we once were like...' Verdana didn't have all nasty memories of this skeleton. There was a time that they could even be considered family. Of course, that didn't last long, for her work had quickly become more important than any attachments she may have made. Work had to come first, always. Still, she sometimes wondered what her life would've been like if she'd made some different choices... No matter. The past is in the past, Verdana. No going back. Unless she wanted to go through all the (censored) she'd suffered through the one time she's tried to go back with Determination that was not her own.

Exploding hadn't been a good experience for her, even if the details were fuzzy.

"Hey, I think I found it," Comic Sans said, his voice echoing in the near-empty room. "There are three files inside it; DT1, DT2, and... Oh. The Crystal Timeline."

"The... last one," she replied softly. Though she needed the Timeline to find the shell for Comic Sans so that he'd cooperate, she didn't want to remember what it had been like there.

Even if she couldn't completely recall NOW, Verdana wasn't sure if she ever wanted to. Her theories didn't claim good things about the fractured version of the Universe she lived in. Even if her research was cut short, she knew enough to shiver at the thought of what could happen in that place.

Comic Sans scrolled through the pages of information that she'd written, his eye lights flicking intently back and forth not unlike observing a game of ping-pong. "Wow, V, this is... incredible. You really think he's in there?"

"I see no other explanation. That's where I was, afterall," she answered. "But, Comic Sans, you will return to our work when I've finished doing this for you, will you not?"

"...if you save Paps, then... yeah. But if you're wrong and this doesn't bring him back, you're gonna work your non-existent butt off till I get my brother back."

"Very well." Another question lingered in her mind, though she hesitated to ask it.

Unfortunately for her, Comic Sans always could sense when she had something to say after all their years together. "What is it?"

She sighed. "Why are you... no. Why do you care so much about it? You were, well, not alive, and now you are. Why aren't you satisfied? Does he really matter that much? Why would he?"

"He's my brother, V. I'd do anything for him. You had a brother, once, right? Didot or something?"

Verdana had to think for a moment there. Had she ever had a brother? Was he lying to her? She wasn't able to sense any proof of a lie in his mind, but she honestly couldn't recall a 'Didot' in her life. "No, I didn't. Where would you get an idea like that?" Perhaps she was forgetting more than she thought. Or perhaps all was not as she'd assumed in her return.

* * *

Yet another A/N- Yaaaaaaaaaay Chapter 10! Ugh why did this take me so looooooong

Welp it's here now! And just to confirm- SANS IS IN PAPYRUS'S BODY, NOT HIS OWN. Paps is 'probably' in the Crystal Timeline (which will come into play SOOOOOOOON), like Verdana said.


	11. Crystal clear! Well, no, not really

Flowey stared up at the distant speck of blue sky that he could see far above where he rested on his sibling's grave and found himself wondering what Frisk and their friends were up to. He bet they were already settled in, all a big happy family, already forgotten that annoying little flower. Why would they care about him, after all? He hadn't made an effort to befriend anyone in this run except Papyrus, but Papyrus was always easy. Flowey had a little laugh over imagining Papyrus driving on a highway like the idiot always talked about.

The small, sentient golden flower wished Frisk would just RESET already. Why were they taking so long? They usually RESET not two days after reaching the End in any route; were they actually staying in a timeline? Flowey found it hard to believe. Something must be up. Or were they actually heeding the 'promise' the Trash Bag made them make every time they got to the Surface? That'd be a first; their promise had never stopped them before.

"Frisk, I swear, if you leave me down here forever," he grumbled, "I'll come up there and make you RESET myself. Screw happy endings; I'm boooored." He sighed heavily as the sun went behind a cloud, and then shivered at the sudden lack of sunlight. He supposed he could pay a visit to New Home and see if anyone had left food behind, but he'd done that yesterday and was sure that there were no more monster candies. He could live without food but just because he didn't benefit from eating it didn't mean he didn't find some amusement from the different flavors and textures, plus trashing people's houses to find sweets was a fun pass-time until the next timeline when he could at least pretend to play with Chara again.

That was what all this was about, wasn't it? He could barely see the resemblance between Frisk and his sibling; they'd been so different. But some things were always the same, like the way they held themselves as if they knew that they could change the world, the way they almost always either had a genuine smile or didn't bother faking it, heck, every time Flowey pulled Frisk's SOUL out at the beginning he couldn't help but be reminded of Chara by the rich red colour that filled it!

"Miss you, Chara," he murmured softly with a small grimace. Flowey had realized that the Chara he'd attempted to talk with while walking through New Home hadn't been the same one he'd known when he was Asriel, but dying changed people. He knew that better than most. Even if he couldn't technically feel regret, grief, remorse, any of it, he still remembered his family's screams as he ripped them apart laughing.

Why not, he'd reasoned, when he could RESET everything after? That was true for him when he'd held the timeline in his leaves, but then Frisk came along and ruined everything. Almost everything. It was nice to see even the smallest glimpses of his sibling.

Sometimes he wished that he still had the most Determination… the fun he could make for himself! But now he was too… cautious. He had only killed before because he knew that he could undo it, but with Frisk? The timelines were unpredictable.

Flowey had had a lot of fun in Frisk's more dusty runs until they'd creeped him out pretty bad in New Home when Frisk had killed everyone. From there, he went through his lines, even going as far as to 'forget' everything when Frisk did a True RESET, but he was more careful. He was sure, if they were there, that Chara would be able to tell that he was just joking.

Like old times, when he was a naive goat prince and they were a fun-loving human child. Stupid buttercups; ruining everything.

"Hmm...?" Flowey turned his head quickly towards the entrance to the Ruins, a strange feeling in his stem. "I could've sworn I just felt... No, that's impossible." Flowey scoffed at himself for even reacting to the familiar twinge, but a part of him couldn't shake his first assumption from his mind. Before the Barrier broke and he'd been left behind, he used to feel that twitch every single time the Smiley Trash Bag teleported.

Was Sans back in the Underground? Why?

* * *

He was floating.

Where?

Somewhere... white. Shiny.

When?

...he couldn't remember.

Why?

He only recalled a brief flash. And then... this. He knew he was somewhere. The Great Papyrus couldn't be just erased from existence, after all! The... Great Papyrus. Where did that come from? He thought he recognized that from somewhere... Did people call him that? Was that his nickname? The Great Papyrus?

What an interesting nickname, he mused. No, why would he muse? He never mused. That could almost be like brooding and Sans did enough of that for both of them! Now that was very interesting... who was Sans? Why did he feel almost scared when he said their name? Was Sans his friend?

All this wondering was just making him even more confused. He needed to do something, something to get out of here and back to Sans! He knew Sans was somehow alive, he could feel it in his bones!

Ooooh. That was terrible. Somehow, he knew that he disliked puns. Did Sans like puns? _Who even is Sans, and why am I thinking about him so much?_ And 'somehow alive'? Was he ok? An overwhelming lack of comprehension washed over the still-floating skeleton, leaving him with frustrated droplets in his eye sockets.

Shaking the tears away, Papyrus pushed himself forward as he looked curiously around at the blank space in front of him, surrounding him, trapping him. Where was this place? Suddenly, his gaze stopped on a small crystal ball seemingly floating in midair. He drifted closer and peered at the oddly placed sphere. His eye sockets could pick out only a few blurry shapes, that of a shining tube and a fuzzy white face that was slowly becoming bigger and more focused.

What was this? Suddenly, he was somewhere else.

"Hey! Hey, you, skeleton dude," a voice cried from behind him. "Don't touch that!"

"ACK!" Papyrus's red scarf tangled itself in his arm as he spun around with speed to rival a jet plane to face the voice. Before him stood a small human girl, of an age Papyrus estimated to be no more than ten, wearing a ridiculously oversized brown hoodie and tight black leggings, with waist-length blonde hair that had the tips dyed a bright blue.

"Uh, sorry, didn't mean ta' frighten you," she apologized with a grimace as Papyrus struggled to unwind the red material.

"OH, DO NOT WORRY, HUMAN! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU CAUGHT ME OFF GUARD, MY DEFENCES ARE USUALLY IMPENETRABLE!"

She shrugged, as if she'd heard it all before, and took a step forwards. "Man, we haven't gotten a skeleton in a while! What's your name?"

"I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS! NYEH HEH HEH!" What an odd laugh, he thought to himself. But it feels right.

"And... your last name?" The girl tilted her head inquisitively to one side, inspecting the tall skeleton.

"...WHAT?"

"What's your last name? Unless your first name is 'The Great' or something," she said impatiently.

"I APOLOGIZE, HUMAN. I... DO NOT KNOW MY LAST NAME."

"Huh. Uh, well, I think you should come with me. My dad might know what to do with you. We're usually pretty good at getting people back to their universes, but once in a while there's a weirdo like you who needs a bit more help," she explained while beckoning to him and walking towards a large grey house that Papyrus swore wasn't there a minute ago.

"WHERE IS THIS?" The orb floated alongside him as he followed the girl against the many suspicions in his skull.

"Hmm? Oh, this is where I live, with my siblings and dad. We're here so that every time someone comes here, we can help them get back to their timeline. Wouldn't want a whole buncha' monsters an' humans just hanging out here all by themselves, right? With their luck, another War'd start!"

Papyrus frowned as the frustration building up in him threatened to burst. Why couldn't this human answer his questions the way he wanted them answered? _Stop it, Papyrus, you're being a child. Patience._ "SORRY, I MEANT, WHERE IS THIS PLACE? THIS WHITE PLACE?"

"Hey, we're here," she piped, ignoring his question. "Anything you want to know, Dad can tell you." She started walking up a small flight of wooden starts that led to a cramped porch, and Papyrus continued trailing her as she knocked firmly on the door. "It's me, Jonas, you were right. I found someone."

"What's the password," whispered a young, breathy voice from behind the door.

"Wendy Hope-Mitchell," she replied with an exasperated tone in her voice. "Do we really need to do that every time, J? I've only been gone for a few minutes."

"You know what Dad's rules are," the voice, Jonas, said as the door creaked open and a thin figure was revealed standing in the doorway. He was a boney, short boy with wispy blonde hair and an easy smile, though Papyrus didn't fail to notice the metal braces on both of his legs, and the crutches he leaned against. "Oh," he said as his wide blue eyes fell on Papyrus.

"Be nice, Jonas," the girl said. "I know that Ms. Verdana wasn't super great, but this Papyrus seems very nice. Normal. I think he's from an Alternate Timeline."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Chelsie. Just take him to dad," said Jonas, walking away and waving a dismissive hand.

"Got it. Papyrus, follow me," Chelsie said as she took Papyrus's gloved hand in her own and started making her way through the house that seemed much larger on the inside then it had appeared on the outside.

Very, very interesting...

* * *

Oops sorry, this took so long, I've been trying to divide my attention between this, homework, a musical I'm in, and a story for a contest I'm entering. I'll try to get quicker with updates! 3


	12. Wait What-

Frisk tapped mindlessly at their phone in a failing attempt to drown out the worry they were feeling for Papyrus, who still hadn't returned. Toriel, Asgore, and Undyne were still out looking for him around the forest, which meant Frisk was being babysat by Alphys.

"H-Hey, Frisk," Alphys started, "Y-Y-You wanna watch M-Mew Mew Kissy C-Cutie with me? I-I'm on episode n-n-nine, but we can r-restart it if y-you want."

They told her that they were ok for now without looking up from their screen, and went back to reloading their inbox over and over in the hopes that an email from the Ebott City mayor would finally come. They'd been waiting for a reply for their question about accommodations for the monsters that they'd sent two days after breaking the Barrier, and so far, they'd only gotten a 'we're still contemplating' notice back.

"Yeah, o-ok," Alphys said, twiddling her yellow thumbs.

Frisk growled quietly at their phone, reloading it again, but getting no result.

"Um... um, F-Frisk?"

Frisk looked up and raised an eyebrow.

"Um, w-well, it's, it's n-none of m-m-m-my business, b-but, um-"

Get to the point, Alphys.

"Oh! Um, r-right, I'm just, like, w-wondering how you're h-holding up? W-with the attack... and... S-Sans... and..." Alphys trailed off, biting her lip and adjusting her glasses nervously.

They tilted their head and asked curiously why she was asking. They were fine, of course they were, why wouldn't they be?

"A-Are you serious, F-F-Frisk?" Alphys's thumbs stopped twirling. "I'm, n-no, everyone's starting to get worried a-about you! I m-m-mean, it's li-like you, um, d-d-don't even c-c-care, but, uh, but w-we know that's n-n-not true! I mean, uh, well, um, I-I know this is hard for you, it is f-for everyone! But y-you can talk t-to us, you know that, r-right?"

Frisk nodded impatiently, then stood up from their perch on Undyne's sleeping mat and asked quickly if they could take a walk outside.

"Oh, um, ok, i-if you're c-c-c-careful, I g-guess," she answered uneasily.

Frisk nodded again before hastily exiting the tent, withholding a shiver as the chilly evening air nipped at their bare calves and stirred the loose gold shorts that they'd changed into for the Dust Ceremony. The child shuffled along a rugged path in between the inky black trees and sighed softly into the darkness as they rubbed their arms to warm up. Did Alphys really think that they didn't care about all of this? They cared. It was just hard to realize how permanent this could be when they couldn't use their powers to reverse it all anymore.

A part of Frisk wondered why they were still sticking to the promise Sans had made them take; after all, he wasn't here to stop them, was he?

One of their yellowish hands flew to their mouth as they processed their thoughts, and a small gasp escaped their lips. Had they really just almost made a joke about Sans's death? What was wrong with them?

Beads of moisture began gathering in their eyes, and Frisk blinked tightly to force them away. Getting emotional wouldn't do them any good; they needed to keep a level head. If they wanted to find a way to fix this mess of a run, they were going to need help. Taking a breath, they dropped the magic text box they usually used to communicate and said out loud into the quiet forest in their shaky, rarely used voice, "Chara? Are you there?"

* * *

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you! Happy Birthday, Indie Flower, happy birthday to you!"

The crowd of six sitting around a picnic blanket and the little skeleton girl in the middle applauded energetically as the girl squealed expectantly and adjusted the pink paper cone-like hat perched on her head.

"Indie, are you ready for your presents?" An older skeleton woman smiled fondly at her daughter as the child nodded enthusiastically. She handed Indie a carefully wrapped yellow package and scooted back as her daughter started ripping into the paper.

As the wrapping was torn away from the gift inside, the woman leaned back and rested her skull on the shoulder of a lanky skeleton man. "I hope she likes it," she whispered to him.

"Of course she will, Nunito," he replied gently.

"She'll absolutely adore yours, Garamond," she predicted as her daughter finished off the last layer of wrapping paper. "She always does."

"Eeeee! Mommy, this is amazing," shrieked Indie as she held up a hand-stitched kitten stuffed animal with soft blue fur and dark brown button eyes. "Did you make him for me?"

"I sure did, my flower," Nunito replied, squeezing her brother Garamond's hand as her daughter squashed the stuffed animal against her cheekbone.

"Indie, do you want to open the present from your cousins next?" A round-skulled skeleton man with a large smile held up two tiny boxes with pink ribbons tied around them and a lacy green card.

His young sons grinned widely at Indie from their seats on each side of him as Indie nodded and smiled wider, reaching out her arms to take the boxes and card from the man. Opening the card, she read out loud, "From Uncle Corbel, Cousin Cammy, and Cousin Ubuntu- Happy ninth birthday, Indie Flower! We hope you have a great day and enjoy your presents. Love, the Underlines."

Nunito chuckled softly as Indie flung herself into Corbel's arms after setting down the card, and she could feel Garamond's body shaking in laughter behind her as a grand noogie war commenced between Indie and her best friend, Times New Roman (Just Roman for short), and the Underline Twins, Cambria, and Ubuntu.

After a few minutes of youthful screams and sore skulls, Indie broke off of the pile of bones and, giggling, cracked open the two boxes to see what the twins (and Corbel) had gotten for her. "Wow! These are so pretty," she said, holding up two necklaces, one silver, and the other gold. "Thanks, Cammy, Ubuntu, Uncle Corbel!"

"Our pleasure, Indie," said Corbel.

"Uncle Garamond, may I open yours next?"

Nunito knew her brother couldn't refuse, not with puppy-dog eyes like Indie's.

"Of course, petals," Garamond answered with his special pet name for her. "Just 'lemme get it."

Indie's eye sockets went wide as Garamond disappeared into thin air, one of his special abilities he could draw from his mixed base Lime/Cyan SOUL.

Nunito sat up a bit more in anticipation of his return, eager to see Indie's reaction to the present Garamond had gotten for her daughter.

Not thirty seconds later, Garamond appeared standing directly in the spot where he had previously been sitting, this time carrying a box the size of Indie's skull in his hands, wrapped up in light blue paper and tied with a striped golden and magenta ribbon, the colours of Indie's mixed Soul. "Here we are, petals! Now, I want you to be very careful with it so it doesn't break, ok?" Garamond handed the box over to the girl, who was practically vibrating in excitement and stepped back to let her tear into the wrapping with slightly more caution than her other gifts.

"Uncle, why did you put so much paper on this?" Indie complained jokingly as she peeled off the fourth layer of blue paper from the box.

"It just adds to the fun," Garamond replied with a wink, settling back down onto the grass.

After a particularly long struggle with a wad of tape (assisted by Aunt Georgia's scissors), Indie finally ripped off the last sheet of what seemed to be an entire roll of wrapping paper to find a significantly smaller wooden box than what it had appeared to be underneath all the paper. "Hmm? What is this, Uncle G?"

Here, let me show you," Garamond said, pushing himself to his feet once again to amble over to his niece. "See this little switch on the front, yeah?"

Indie nodded.

"Press it." The skeleton girl reached out a bony finger to click the little wooden switch and jerked her hand back in surprise when the top of the box- now revealed to have a lid- sprung up with a _clack_.

Indie hesitantly leaned over the box, peering into what Nunito thought was an empty interior.

"Wow," Indie breathed as the base of the wooden box unfolded and reformed, flawlessly, to make the shape of a fox, Indie's favourite animal.

Just as Nunito thought this gift couldn't get much better, the fox's mouth opened and a breathy, high voice began to hum inside of the box. Just being near the box told Nunito what a powerful enchantment this was. Garamond must have spent months on this music box for Indie.

"Wow," repeated Indie as the fox's mouth closed. "Uncle Garamond! This is amazing! I love you!"

"Love you too, petals," Garamond said with a fond smile. "Now, whose gift would you like to open- agh!"

"Garamond?" Nunito looked away from the enchanted box quickly at her brother's abrupt cutoff and gasped at what she saw.

Garamond's relaxed posture was gone, replaced by him curling protectively over his ribcage and his hands grasping his Soul spot, beads of sweat already forming on his skull. What alarmed Nunito the most, however, was the upside down heart floating in front of her brother, glowing a faint lime. Souls weren't supposed to come out of a monster's body unless they were in combat, and Garamond looked like he'd just been hit with a magic attack.

"Uncle? Uncle G?" Indie scrambled closer to her uncle, but Nunito pushed her away.

"Let me handle this, Indie," she said firmly. "Gary, are you alright?"

"N-Nunito!"

"Yes, I'm here, what's wrong?"

"I can f-feel her! I can almost… reach…" Garamond's Soul started floating back towards his ribcage, and he visibly relaxed.

"Who?"

"V-Verdana! I swear, it was Verdana! She's not dead!"

* * *

A/N- Yay, Chapter 12! Just a heads up, I'm rewriting Chapter One, so I'll let you all know once the new version's up (in the A/N of the next chapter). Thanks!


	13. Premonition

A/N: CHAPTER ONE HAS BEEN UPDATED! I suggest you go back and reread it if you haven't already, as new information that I forgot before has been added THAT WILL EFFECT THE STORY. Enjoy!

* * *

'Hmm... If I add more Magenta to the Gold solution, will I be able to then proceed to testing or will I need a higher concentration of Lime to balance the Karma? Perhaps if I mix Green in with a smaller portion of Magenta, I won't need to-'

"Hey, Dad, guess what?"

"Ah! Chelsie, what have I told you?" The thinker spun from his spot where he had been leaning against a tall table with numerous glowing vials perched on separate stands, nearly knocking over a tall, thin vial containing what seemed to be drops of a strange cyan liquid floating in oil. "Knock before you enter!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry, but guess what?!" Chelsie hopped impatiently from foot to foot as she waited for her father to answer.

The man found himself chuckling at her antics, though they were to be expected from most Bravery traits. "What is it, sparks?"

"A new skeleton showed up! In the White, just a few minutes ago! He's waiting outside," she said quickly, her bouncing ceasing for a moment before starting again as she grasped the man's hand and attempted to drag him out of his workroom.

"Whoa, there, Chelsie! I'll need a bit more information than that if I'm to be even slightly prepared. AU? AT? Which skeleton?"

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, I'm just excited. So, I'm pretty sure he's from an AT, or maybe a Post-Pacifist AU, 'cause he's wearing the same clothes as canon. But here's the thing- it's not a Sans or a version of you! He's a Papyrus!"

"A... Papyrus," he repeated slowly. "Fascinating. And you're sure he's not a Swap variation?"

"Dad, he's wearing a battle body. I'm pretty sure," Chelsie replied with a sigh. "Now can you come see him? He's really confused."

"Did you ask Violet to help you?" "She's napping, Dad, seven-year-olds can't work all day. 'Sides, aren't UT Papyruses usually all trusting and believe-y anyways? It's not like he was gonna attack me or something," muttered Chelsie as she tugged her father out into the hallway.

"You can't just assume that, Chelsie, there are many ATs with troubled Papyruses. Remember that Fell variation a year back? He tried to kill Odette for her LV! Don't be so quick to judge," he scolded gently.

"Yeah, but that was a Fell Papyrus. Like, half of the Fell guys have tried to kill us at some point," she whined. "Anyways, he should be around here."

"'Should be'? Did you not get one of the others to help you?"

"Nah, I could handle it," Chelsie said with a grin.

"If there were an Independence trait, child, you'd have one powerful Soul."

"I know," she replied, her smile adopting a cheeky look. Chelsie let go of her father's hand to scamper around the corner of the hallway in pursuit of the alleged Papyrus, and the man decided to help her look and turned down the hall to walk in the other direction.

"Oh! Hello, Hazel," he greeted as he almost bumped into a tall girl with tanned skin who was gliding down the hallway with her nose in a thick book.

"Hello, Dad," she said, looking up from her book. "Are you looking for the skeleton?"

"Why, yes. Do you know where he is?"

"In the room with the little kids," Hazel informed, her eyes flipping back to the book's pages. "He's good with them."

The man sighed, relieved, and hastily thanked Hazel before hurrying down the halls towards the playroom. He was glad that this Papyrus didn't seem to be aggressive, as some of the smallest children he'd taken in over his years couldn't use their magic defensively yet. Of course, two older kids were always watching the six youngest children, but there was always the possibility that a strong human or monster could over-power them.

"...AND SO MR. YELLOW TRAIN CARRIED ALL OF THE KITTIES BACK TO THEIR HOME! THE END," flourished a voice from inside the colourfully decorated playroom.

The man once again blessed the enchantment that allowed his house to shift forms to accommodate all of its habitants, as there was no way all of his adopted children would fit into the tiny house that it appeared to be on the outside.

"You do the voices so well," squealed another voice that the man recognized as the young Soul of Justice, Lachlan.

"Yeah! Akane never does them right," chirped little Sean, his snow white Soul of Hope pulsing in his chest.

The man leaned against the doorframe, watching contentedly as each of the children added their own little compliment to the Papyrus's storytelling abilities. The skeleton in question was basking in the attention, his red scarf billowing behind even though there was no wind in the room. "NYEH HEH HEH! BUT OF COURSE, LITTLE HUMANS! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, ALWAYS PERFORM TO THE VERY BEST OF MY ABILITIES!"

The laugh, the familiar speech patterns, even the volume struck a chord in the man, and a strange feeling worked its way through his throat. Even after all this time, Papyruses reminded him of his own son. Unfortunately, his Papyrus didn't even know his father existed.

"Hello, everyone," the man said, stepping into the room. "Is our new guest entertaining you?"

"Oh, yes! Mr Papyrus is my favouritest," exclaimed Lachlan again.

"'Favourite', not 'favouritest', Lachlan," corrected Louis, the older Soul of Wisdom, absentmindedly from the corner of the room.

Lachlan blew a raspberry at Louis, and the other children giggled gleefully at Louis's exaggerated gasp.

"HELLO, TALLER HUMAN," said Papyrus. "Hello, Papyrus," the man replied. "Have the children treated you well?"

"ABSOLUTELY! ANITA AND MOHAMMAD HERE WERE VERY NICE AT INTRODUCING EVERYONE TO ME WHEN I FOUND THIS ROOM, AND I THOUGHT THAT THEIR SELECTION OF BOOKS WERE EXCELLENT! THOUGH I WISH YOU HAD 'FLUFFY BUNNY'," Papyrus said.

"Yeah! Papyrus told us awwwwwl about Fluffy Bunny! Why don't we 'ave Fluffy Bunny, Daddy?" asked Sean's twin, Connor, playing with a glowing magenta Soul pillow in his hands, the colour mirroring the real the one in his body.

"You're right, I'll pick a copy up next time I'm, uh, shopping," the man said placating.

Louis snorted, and the man shot him a look.

Louis looked away.

"Yaaaaay!" cried the majority of the children sitting on the floor beside Papyrus.

"Shhh," whispered Akane, the other of the two older kids watching the youngest ones.

"Violet's still napping after her last, uh, patient."

"Sorry," said Connor.

"I'm awake," murmured a drowsy voice from behind one of the soft yellow curtains in the corners of the room. "Do we have a visitor?" A small girl, no more than eight years old, walked out from behind the curtain, her hand rubbing one of her eerie solid black eyes and yawning.

"Oh, you're up, Violet," said Akane in surprise.

"Yeah, I woke up just at the end of the story," explained Violet, shuffling shyly up to the man. "Who's this, Daddy?"

"Violet, this is Papyrus," the man said, gesturing towards the smiling skeleton.

"HELLO, TINY HUMAN," said Papyrus enthusiastically.

"Hi," said Violet, gripping the man's pant leg tightly. "Daddy, does he need...?"

"No, I think he's fine," he replied.

"UM, EXCUSE ME, SIR, BUT WHO ARE YOU?"

The man smiled, turning back towards the skeleton that was so alike and yet so different from his son. "Oh, of course. My apologies for not introducing myself already."

Out of the corner of the man's eyes, Louis perked up expectantly.

Well, the man thought, it would be interesting to find out if his identity would effect this Papyrus at all. Sanses usually recognized his name, but it'd been so long since a Papyrus had come here...

"My name is Dr. W.D. Gaster."

* * *

Flowey broke through soil as he pushed his head up to the surface, and looked around quickly before shaking his head and going back under again. He'd been looking for the trash bag for the last few minutes, with no luck. Either he'd been imagining things, or Sans was somewhere in the Underground Flowey hadn't checked yet, and the flower found that highly unlikely. He'd had years to explore, if one counted up all of the Resets he'd made.

"Ugh, am I going nuts?" he wondered out loud, stopping for breath in the small tunnel he was making with his thorny vines. Though being Soulless meant he didn't have a Soul to exhaust by using too much magic, he could still get tired through manual labour. Twitching a leaf to detach a wad of mud, Flowey gritted his teeth- teeth? How did that work, he was a plant! - and kept digging. If that Comedian was back, he wanted information.

What the (censored) was Frisk doing? After so much time, there were few things that got to Flowey, but one of them was not knowing something. He needed to have his knowledge to keep up his image of an omnipresent creep, and this wasn't helping! Of course, there was no one except him in the Underground anymore to see his state of self-proclaimed 'OOC'. But STILL!

Popping through Snowdin's earth once again, Flowey shivered as chilly air breezed past his petals. He was now right outside of Papyrus and Sans's old house. Flowey scanned quickly, but to his annoyance, there were no visible differences. Flowey was just about to accept that he must've been going stir crazy and go back to Chara when he thought he heard a noise from the house.

Creeping through the snow, he raised himself up to the window, and stopped himself from falling through the glass in shock when he saw the tall frame of Papyrus. Could Papyrus teleport now? And Flowey was sure he'd poked his head into the skelebros's house already... he must've missed it, somehow.

"...that happened was you trying to go too fast and Papyrus (censored) saving me! And another question for you, V- how are you awake? I SAW what that stuff did to you!"

Why was Papyrus talking in his brother's font? Flowey ducked down quickly as Papyrus's skull turned towards the window.

"How are you even- Oh. V, did you actually manage to SAVE? That's... incredible. I suppose the excess Karma I released when I, uh, died, rekindled your consciousness from..."

As Papyrus's voice paused, Flowey peeked up again and tilted his head in confusion. Who was he talking to? There was no one else in the room. Maybe he was on a phone call...? A glance at Papyrus's empty gloved hands ended that theory quickly. What was that about dying?

"Ha! We were right, weren't we? You were in the Crystal Timeline, the fractured one! What was it like? Was anyone else there?"

The skeleton waited for a moment, and Flowey shrank back at the furious expression that soon melted onto Papyrus's face. He hadn't seen that much fury in the weirdo before.

"...You're kidding. V, we don't need to work anymore! We're all free, and Frisk... Frisk seems content. I..." Papyrus trailed off.

Flowey decided if he wanted answers, he'd need to actually talk to the skeleton, even if he wasn't Sans. Forcing a few vines under the windowpane, Flowey began wriggling into the house.

"V, those three years were the worst of my life. I went through my days knowing that if I didn't go along with your plans, you'd use Papyrus instead. I... can't say I wished you dead. You're the only mother I've ever really known, even if you suck."

"Use Papyrus instead"? He was Papyrus! Flowey pulled his stem through the gap in between the sill and the window.

"Anytime. But, when you died or whatever, I was finally free. Papyrus was free! He could have a future, a real one, outside a laboratory."

Okay, Flowey knew that Papyrus sometimes talked in third person, but this was getting absurd. He reached out a vine hesitantly to prod Papyrus's leg, and- Papyrus chose the most inconvenient time to twist out of reach of Flowey, gesturing angrily towards the stairs, where there was no one.

"I'm saying that I don't want to get back into that (censored). You can go possess a toilet for all I care."

Papyrus? Swearing?

"...You never did get my jokes. Get lost. But first, tell me how to get Papyrus back in his body. I don't care if it dusts me for real, just spare Paps."

Flowey was starting to put things together. Whoever this was, it wasn't Papyrus. What was happening on the Surface? A part of him wished he'd gone with Frisk when they'd asked, but his pride and maybe a little bit of guilt hadn't let him.

"One condition' can go to (censored)! Either you give Papyrus back or I do it myself and kill you for good while I'm at it! Listen, Paps is all I got. Can't you just let me be the expendable one for once? We're not in the lab anymore, V. We're BOTH monsters."

Flowey was pretty sure he knew who this was now. Through much digging over the timelines, he had uncovered a scientific past in Sans the skeleton. And, really, who else would it be? Teleporting, speech patterns, it all screamed Sans. How had he not assumed this earlier?

"Inna minute. Gotta check something first."

Flowey watched quietly as Sans pulled out his Soul and ran a Check. Every time Flowey had seen the skeleton's Soul, it always unnerved him how fragile it looked. But something was different this time. His Soul seemed… newer. Flowey didn't risk tapping into the Check- A wound-up Sans was a dangerous Sans, he'd learned.

So he just observed as Sans smiled- that was what had been missing, a smile- and disappeared. "So much for information," Flowey muttered. "At least I know something that I'm pretty sure Frisk doesn't. Maybe…?" The flower's face twisted into a sinister grin. "Oh, this will be fun!"

* * *

A/N, again:

Whaaaaaaaat!? Thanks, everyone, for 7000 views! I'm really excited for the next part of this story, and I hope you are too! I'm trying to get quicker with updates, but don't hold me to it. Big thanks for FictionGirl11 for all of her edits!

Reviews fill me with Determination, so if you see any errors we've missed or just comments you want to make, PLEASE tell me in the reviews! Um, no pressure, though. ^^


	14. Shy Skies

"V-Verdana! I swear, it was Verdana! She's not dead!" said Garamond hoarsely, his shaking voice cracking through his mouth to hover in the air like disturbed dust before drifting away, vanishing once more. He slowly uncurled from his previous position, releasing his hand from where it had been clutching at his soft brown shirt, and lay it on his kneecap, tremors traversing through its phalanges as a clear give-away at how much that small event had shaken him.

"Garamond..." Nunito said softly from behind him.

Even without looking at his sister, Garamond knew what expression he'd find in her face. A quiet, resolved pity, a sorrowful and yet exasperated glimmer to her flickering, pale green eye-lights. She'd never believed him when he'd thought he'd felt Verdana through their bond, and Garamond already knew this time wasn't going to be any different.

"Uncle? Are you alright?" Another voice broke into his wallowing.

Stars, he'd shattered the carefree atmosphere of Indie's party, hadn't he? _Just had to cause a scene, always ruining everything_ , he muttered silently to himself. A bitter taste worked its way up into his mouth, and the skeleton found himself gripping his femur hard enough for a throbbing pain, like whacking it on a door frame, to shoot through his milky white bone.

"I'm fine, Indie. Just gonna get some air," he responded, careful not to meet his niece's eye lights as he stood abruptly and began making his way back towards their small village, lest he see the confused, disappointed look he could already tell would be displayed in Indie's small round skull.

"Garamond!" snapped Nunito.

But, before her outstretched hand could make contact with Garamond's shoulder, he summoned his unique magic and moved his body through space with a mere thought. Thought it felt different, somehow, like squeezing a lemon for the last of its juice.

Stepping forward into a completely new scenery, Garamond trailed a limp hand down the front of his skull, releasing a pent up sigh through the gap in his front teeth, producing a high whistle that somehow resurfaced a bittersweet memory in the skeleton. Verdana'd always giggled like mad when he made that whistle for her, hadn't she? God, he was a mess.

 _It's been fifteen years, Garamond_ , he told himself roughly. _Stop being a child and get over her for Pete's sake!_

It was like he was Sisyphus, doomed to almost push the boulder to the top of the hill, to almost recover, only for something like the lurch in his Soul he'd felt to send him tumbling down once more. The endless cycle of his life since the civil war'd ended.

"M'sorry, Verdana, didn't mean to get like this," he said softly, letting his head fall back to stare up at the rocky ceiling above him. The west side of the Underground had been closed of for almost twenty years, but his memories were of a whole Underground, before the Civil War. Garamond could almost hear her answer, like a whisper carried in the winds. Almost, but not quite.

He could only pretend, like one of their little role plays. What was his character, again? Right. Sir Garry, Protector of the Mountain, and she, Compass Dana, the bravest adventurer of them all.

They hadn't been friends at the start. Her mother was the Captain of the Royal Guard back before the Civil War that divided the Underground in two, and since Garamond's father was a soldier in the Guard, Garamond's childhood had consisted of going along with him to the meetings. 'An experience', his father had told him, 'In case you ever want to join your old man.'

Garamond had only ever went because it made his father happy. He wanted to be a doctor, and help people, not fight.

 _Ha_ , Garamond thought dryly. _Help people. Not doing that so well anymore, are we? Just messing stuff up._

"I should get back to the others, apologize to Indie," he muttered to himself, straightening his spine and summoning his magic once more. Except there was nothing to draw from. "What the...?"

Garamond pulled out his Soul, the upside-down translucent heart popping out of his ribcage like a mouse squeezing through a narrow space, immediately giving off a gentle silvery-green glow. The Soul bobbed up and down serenely, spinning slightly as Garamond inspected it. _Hmm_ ing in confusion, Garamond let the cumulation of his being sink back into his body, not noticing anything off with his Soul.

Tapping into his reservoir of potential power, Garamond frowned at the lack of response. Something was wrong with his magic. Had something gone wrong with his teleport? He quickly performed a CHECK, impatient to find why he couldn't use his regular jumps.

Name: Garamond Red Italic

Species: Monster; Skeleton

LV: 3

EXP: 46

HP: 700/750

ATK: 5

DEF: 2

MP: 13/800

MpM: 1

HpM: 2

SOUL Status: Connected

Primary trait: Magic (White)

Secondary Trait: Stability (Grey)

Tertiary Trait: Grace (Lime)

Connection: Soul Support- Supporting- Verdana Constantia Garamond-Aster Italic

Garamond swore out loud, a rare act for him. His magic potential was at thirteen? If it reached zero, he'd Fall Down. He'd already lost fifty HP, and with his recovery rate so low, he'd lose health points faster than gaining them back. Then there was that last line.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," he muttered, pacing around the lush room. "Jumps aren't gonna work, and I'm in the middle of freaking Soubois. How close is that village I remember? Pluira?" He'd think about the connection... later. When he wasn't _leaking magic like a jar made of soil_.

The skeleton took out his cellphone, but growled angrily when the only fruit of his labour was a red sign proclaiming that his battery was dead. "Of all the-"

"Um, um, e-excuse m-m-me? S-Sir?"

Garamond started violently at the voice, his bones giving a distinct clacking noise as he jerked. He hadn't been expecting that. Looking around, Garamond frowned, not seeing anyone.

"D-Down here, Mr Skeleton," said the voice again.

Looking down, Garamond stepped back quickly in horror as he realized that he'd been standing on a child Timinciel's wing, the poor thing shaking with a mixture of what Garamond assumed to be pain and fear of the angry ranting skeleton who'd appeared out of nowhere. "Oh, oh dear, I am so sorry," he said worriedly, practically jumping off of the child.

"I-It's ok," they said, though a slight tremor remained in their voice.

"No, really, my deepest apologies, I was not paying attention to where I was walking," said Garamond sincerely, crouching down to lessen the difference in the two monsters' sizes. "May I look at your wing?"

"Uh..."

"I used to be a doctor, I just want to make sure I didn't cause any, erm, hindering damage," assured Garamond with a patient, soft smile, like one he'd use on Indie when she had a nightmare, as if he knew a smile would be better than any sleeping medicine. His days as a doctor were long over, but his training still remained drilled into his mind.

Garamond had never been one of the best, but his services were praised in the aftermaths of the Civil War when the soldiers were recovering. It had been a long road for an odd little skeleton from some tiny village to graduate from the Capital's medical school, but it had been easier with his best friend encouraging him, helping him study and supporting him the whole way.

"Oh, um, sure, ok, thank you," squeaked the Timinciel. They shakily held out a rainbow-coloured, glossy wing, what looked almost like a sheet of tissue paper, and let Garamond take it in his phalanges as he looked it over.

A part of Garamond knew he shouldn't be wasting time doing this; he really had to find a way back to his family and figure out what in the world was wrong with his magic. But he couldn't just leave this poor Timinciel possibly wounded, and especially not when he'd been the one to cause the damage.

"What's your name, little one?" he asked while turning the wing over carefully, looking for any bruises or tears.

"Oh! I-I-I'm Arcen," they answered.

Garamond smiled again. "That's a nice name, Arcen. I'm Garamond."

"Do you, um, live in the sk-sk-skeleton colony? B-By the Barrier?"

Garamond was surprised at the child's question, his eye lights shrinking slightly as he nodded slowly. "Yes, I do," he said. "Are we a prime topic of conversation?"

"Um, um, well, kinda? I mean, um, y-you guys are, l-l-like, the coolest monsters ever! You all g-g-guard the Barrier an' make sure no humans get through to us, an' you're, um..." Arcen trailed off.

Garamond realized that his face had twisted into a grimace while the small tear-drop shaped monster child had been talking, a reaction he'd been making whenever someone mentioned the magical forcefield trapping the monsters inside this mountain since about three weeks ago. The skeletons and the other few monsters closest to the exit hadn't exactly told the other monsters that the Barrier was down. That they were finally free.

It was just too risky, at least until they were sure the human city on the other side wasn't going to attack them on sight and start another war. Kamia knew they didn't need a third one.

Their side of the mountain was mostly weaker monsters, save for the family of Boss Monsters who ruled the West Underground. Garamond had heard they were distant relatives of the Dreemurrs, but he was uncertain due to the large amounts of gossip the inhabitants of the West were prone to.

"Your wing's fine," he said gruffly, standing up above Arcen and shifting his gaze to his feet as he saw the Timinciel flutter their wings to hover just above the ground in his peripheral vision. A relief, too, as healing magic was even more draining than teleporting.

"Oh! Um, right, er, thank you," said Arcen.

"May I ask a favour?"

"U-Um, sure, what is it?" replied Arcen.

"Can you give me directions to the nearest town? I need to make a few calls," said Garamond shortly, feeling a small twang in his Soul. If that last line in his Check was accurate...

Then Nunito might've been wrong about Verdana the entire time.


End file.
